Historically, a copyright work had to be registered in the U.S. to be protected in the U.S.; this is no longer the case and under the Berne Convention international citizens enjoy the same copyright protection in the U.S. as they do elsewhere.

There is however still a single stipulation that the U.S. Copyright Office, which is run by the Library of Congress, makes in relation to U.S. citizens. This appears in U.S. Copyright Office document Circular 1 ‘Copyright Basics’ (source:http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf - August 2011) and states “Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. Origin”. Because of this one statement we advise that U.S. Citizens also consider registering with the U.S. Copyright Office.

This rule applies to work created by U.S. citizens or organisations and where an infringement suit is filed in the United States. It does not affect copyright owners outside the U.S, (even if they need to bring a legal case in the U.S.), nor will it affect cases filed outside the U.S. In fact, under the terms of international conventions, U.S. law must treat works by non-U.S. authors as though they were registered in the U.S.

Yes. The focus of our service and that of the U.S. Copyright Office is not the same - the two may even be seen as complementary to some degree.

For historical reasons, registration in the U.S. focuses on court proceedings within the U.S. itself, while Copyright Witness ensures that you always have evidence available for any national or international legal case or dispute.

There are several benefits for U.S. citizens who register with Copyright Witness, here are some considerations:

• You can call on us to provide a copy of your work for you to use as evidence to support your claim in any international case.
• Our response time to enquiries is very fast which makes us more convenient to use outside the U.S.
• Unlike postal submissions to the U.S. Copyright Office, our archive procedures include a backup service that ensures that we will always be able to provide a full and valid copy of your work, even if the original item you submitted becomes unreadable.
• For an author with strong evidence of copyright ownership to file suit in court is fairly unusual, as with strong evidence behind you, most infringing parties would be very keen to reach a mutually amicable agreement and avoid legal costs.
• Copyright Witness registrations are processed much quicker:

  Immediate cover is available via our online service, while postal applications are normally processed within 1 working day of receipt (see our copyright registration service standards page).

  By contrast, the U.S. Copyright Office states that you should hear after about 3-10 months if your submission is in order,(source:http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-what.html - August 2011) and that other than an automatic email if you submit online they “do not provide a confirmation of receipt”.

  We feel that 3-10 months is a long time to wait to see if your submission was in order, and many U.S. citizens find that registering with our service means that they can also be assured some intermediate protection whilst waiting for the U.S. Copyright Office to process their application.