Register Copyright

Your registration becomes effective on the day that the Copyright Office receives your application, payment, and copy(ies) in acceptable form. If your submission is in order, you will receive a certificate of registration in approximately 4 months.

You should check with the copyright office to see if there are any fees or particular forms you need to submit with your works. Once you have your fee and forms, send the entire package to:

Send the package to:

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection. Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, the copyright law provides several inducements or advantages to encourage copyright owners to make registration. The following are what may be copyrighted:

  • Performing arts works are intended to be "performed" directly before an audience or indirectly "by means of any device or process." Included are (1) musical works, including any accompanying words; (2) dramatic works, such as scripts, including any accompanying music; (3) pantomimes and choreographic works; and (4) motion pictures and other audiovisual works.

  • Literary works may be published or unpublished and include nondramatic textual works with or without illustrations. Computer programs and databases also are considered literary works.

  • Visual arts are pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art. Here are examples of visual arts. "Useful articles" may have both copyrightable and noncopyrightable features. Some architectural works also qualify as visual arts works.

  • Follow these steps to register your periodical, newspaper, magazine, or other similar work. Serial works are issued or intended to be issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and are intended to be continued indefinitely

  • Sound recordings are "works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work." Common examples include recordings of music, drama, or lectures