Many people believe a work is only protected once it is registered. In most countries that is not true. Registration is better understood as a record with practical benefits than as the thing that creates your rights.
Ownership does not depend on registering
Under the Berne Convention, which most countries follow, copyright protection arises automatically and cannot be made conditional on formalities in the country of origin. In the UK there is no official copyright register at all; you own copyright in an original work from the moment it is created.
Where registration can matter
The United States is the most commonly cited example. Its Copyright Office runs a register, and registration has legal effects:
- For works of US origin, registration (or a refusal of it) is generally a precondition to filing an infringement lawsuit in a US court.
- A certificate made within the statutory time limits is treated as prima facie evidence of the facts it states.
- Statutory damages and attorney's fees are generally available only where the work was registered before the infringement began, or within a short period after first publication.
Rules differ by country, and details such as the time limits are technical. If a particular lawsuit is in view, take advice from a qualified lawyer in the relevant country.
What registration does not do
- It does not make a work protected; that already happened when it was created.
- It does not prove that you wrote it. A registration records a claim, and others can challenge it.
- It does not stop copying by itself. Enforcement still means notices, requests and, where needed, legal action.
- It does not cover ideas, titles or names, which are outside copyright.
Good records help either way
Whether or not you register, keep drafts, source files, dated versions, contracts with contributors and any assignment or licence paperwork. When a takedown notice or a delisting request has to say who owns a work, clean records make the statement straightforward and defensible.
Where Copyright Ltd fits
Copyright Ltd offers support with preparing and documenting works for registration. Filing decisions rest with the relevant authority.