Copyright Registration

Transcription

1 Copyright Registration Excerpted from DIY Publishing, Chapter 14 by Maggie Lynch Convinced to register? Let s go through the online copyright process. Go to: Watch for a notice about pop-ups in the upper part of your screen. Elect to allow pop-ups from the copyright.gov site. Note: The site works well with Internet Explorer and Firefox Browsers. It may have problems with other browsers, including Chrome. You should first see the login screen. This is where you can set up an account with the copyright office by creating your login ID and password. Once you have set up an account, you will see a screen with several menu options. To register your copyright, select the Register a New Claim option under the Copyright Services heading. Some authors have become confused with the language of registering a claim, mistakenly thinking this means you are claiming an infringement. This actually indicates you are registering your claim as the legal owner of the copyright.

2 The next screen determines what type of registration you want. A single work, created by one person, solely owned by one person is the default. This is the case for the majority of self-publishing authors. If the statements are all true click in the Yes box next to each one. Then click the Start Registration button at the bottom. If any of the statements are not true, click in the No box and you will be taken to a different form. I will illustrate the process for the default use a single work, created by one person, solely owned by one person. After checking each Yes box, when you click the Start Registration button a window will pop up asking you to confirm your selections. The notice reminds you what you selected and gives examples of the types of registrations that may not be used with the form you will be taken to next. Assuming you still wish to continue, click the OK button on the lower right of the screen. Finally, you will be taken to a screen to start the actual application process. The Copyright Office wishes to be helpful, but unfortunately, the next screen appears confusing. All the links in the center of the screen are to describe the different types of work you may choose and offer extended definitions. You should go directly to the bottom of the screen and click on the drop down arrow to choose Literary Work. The elements presented on the left will continue to appear on each subsequent screen in the process. This is a tracking system, as well as a menu navigation system. The red arrow on the far left in the navigation tool indicates the screen you have currently selected. In this case it is the Type of Work screen.

3 On each screen you have two options presented by the buttons at the top. Option one is to Continue. Clicking this will take you to the next screen in the forward navigation. Option two is to Save For Later. This allows you to save whatever you have completed thus far and return to it at any time. Now that you have an account, you can log in again and start where you left off. Once you have selected Literary Work click the Continue button. Enter the title of your book exactly as it appears on your title page. The form only allows your title to be one line long. If you have a subtitle, it doesn t need to be put here. The software will think you are trying to register more than one title. For example, for this book I entered DIY Publishing and not the subtitle. The next question asked is: Does this work appear in a larger work? If this is a standalone book the answer is usually No. Click the dropdown arrow to select the answer appropriate for you. You would answer Yes if, for example, this is a short story that was first published in a collection of stories. You would also answer yes is if you had published a novel earlier, then

4 took the first chapter and turned it into a short story. Even though you may have changed a sentence or two, the substantive part of your story was published in the novel previously. Answering Yes, generates a screen that requires you to enter information about the copyright and registration of the larger work so that information can be appropriately matched with your copyright registration for the current work. Once you have selected the appropriate response, Yes or No, click the Continue button. The next screen will ask about the publication status of the work you are registering: Has this work been published? If I am completing the registration after the book has been released for sale, I select Yes on this option. You are allowed to register a copyright for a book that has not been released or may never be released for sale. Selecting Yes to indicate the book has been published, will pop up a screen asking ask for the publication month, day, and year. The next screen asks about author information. Only two items are required on this screen (indicated by red asterisks). They are the country in which you hold citizenship or residence, and what contributions the author made to the book. You may select as many boxes as are appropriate to your involvement with the book. I select only the Text box because I have someone else who designs the cover and another person who does the editing. Your situation may differ. Tip: You have a choice whether to use a pen name or not. If your book copyright page uses only your pen name, you will want to type that name in the Pseudonym box. If you do not want your real name revealed in public records, do not fill out the name information in the Individual Author boxes.

5 Click the Continue button to go to the next screen. The next screen is where you enter your address. Because you already have a profile related to your account, you can click the Add Address button to have the address automatically filled from that information. If you wish to use a different address than what is in your profile, do so here. This information is a public record. Click Continue when completed. The Limitation of Claim screen, shown below, is one screen that the majority of selfpublished authors will not need. It is used only if the work is based on pre-existing work. For example, if your book is an analysis of Grimms fairy tales and each fairy tale is included in your work, you need to use the limitation screen. This screen allows you to provide the copyright details of the other work(s) and delineate which parts of the book are uniquely yours. It is that unique part that will be registered to you.

6 Click Continue to skip this screen. The next screen, Rights and Permissions, asks for specific contact information should someone request permission to use your work. If you have a publishing entity (highly recommended) that is separate from your individual identity, you would enter that information under the Organization column on the right side of the screen. If you do not have a separate company, then enter your legal name and address under the Individual column on the left side of the screen. Remember, this is the contact information that would be provided to anyone who requests it. So, be careful when selecting what address you wish to provide. Many authors without a publishing entity will only provide a post office box address. Click Continue when you have completed the form. The next screen asks who the Copyright Office should contact with questions. If your publishing company is large enough to have staff or an answering service, you might choose to put that organization name, address, and phone number here. Otherwise, complete the individual contact side and use your personal or author-specific address and phone.

7 The next screen is another that the majority of self-publishing authors will not use. It is the Special Handling screen, and carries a fee of $ if it applies to your situation. It is used by those who are already involved in a lawsuit, have customs issues or have unusual deadline issues. If it doesn t apply to you, simply click the Continue button. Finally, you have reached the screen where you certify that you are indeed the author of this book and that everything you have included on the application is correct. The statement reads: I certify that I am the author, copyright claimant, or owner of exclusive rights, or the authorized agent of the author, copyright claimant, or owner of exclusive rights of this work and that the information given in this application is correct to the best of my knowledge. Click in the box next to the certification statement. Then type your name in the box labeled Name of certifying individual.

8 Click Continue when you have certified your claim that the copyright should be registered to you. The final screen before checkout and paying your $35.00 is a review screen. It displays everything you have entered as it appears in the database. Corrections cannot be made on this screen. Click on the appropriate navigation item on the left to return to the screen where you can change the information. Once you are satisfied with all of your entries, click on the Add to Cart button at the top of the page. This will take you to a check out system where you pay the fee to register your copyright. If you are not ready to do that yet, click on the Save for Later button at the top of the page. This will allow you to save everything you ve entered and return to it at another time. The uploading of the electronic copy of your book comes after you have paid the fee. However, before I illustrate that upload process, let s take a look at how to get back to your application should you decide to Save for Later. First, login to the site at Knowing where to look for your application is not intuitive. On the left navigation bar, under Check Registration Case Status, select Working Cases.

9 This will bring up a screen showing any incomplete applications. Click on the link to the application you wish to review and complete. Once you click on the link you will be returned to the familiar screens with the navigation on the left and whichever screen you have selected on the right. Continue to work through the application as described above until you are ready for checkout and payment. Remember: Once you have checked out, that registration record becomes permanent. You cannot return to make changes. After the check out and payment is complete, click the Continue button to upload a copy of your completed book. A payment receipt with your case number will be sent to the you provided in the application. Under the Electronic Deposit Upload header, click on the link that reads Upload Deposit. This will open the file manager on your computer and allow you to browse and select the appropriate file. The copyright office accepts many file types for upload: Microsoft Word Documents (.doc or.docx) Adobe documents (.pdf) Web page formats (.htm or.html) Rich text format (.rtf) Text documents (.txt) Word Perfect documents (.wpd) Microsoft Works documents (.wps)

10 I recommend uploading a PDF file because it retains both the content and the formatting of your book. As you are likely already creating a PDF file for your print-ondemand printer and for electronic download, it is easiest to send this same file to the Copyright Office as the deposit of your work. The screenshot below from the U.S. Copyright Office s PowerPoint presentation illustrates the upload process. If you completed the form to upload a single work from a single author, then you will only have one file to upload. Note the Name field associated with each file. I recommend you name the file with your actual book title (e.g., DIY Publishing). Including the author s name along with the book title is suggested if you are publishing under multiple names or are uploading as part of a publishing cooperative with multiple authors. For example: Maggie Lynch DIY Publishing. The name is displayed as part of your records to make it easy for you to locate the record associated with this registration. So make sure whatever name you select is readily recognizable to you. It may take a minute or two for the file to upload, depending on the size, so be patient. Once the upload complete you will get a confirmation screen that says: The following files were successfully uploaded for service request (followed by a number). Click on the Close Window button at the bottom of the screen to finish the process. You will then receive an confirming receipt of your uploaded file. Print out the and save it. I have a folder marked Copyright Registration in which I keep all the s for each of my books until I receive the actual Certificate of Registration in the mail. In this way I have a paper trail of the entire transaction should I need it.

11 Copyright registration is important. The new electronic registration available at the United States Copyright Office makes it fairly quick and easy. For maximum protection, register every book within three months of its publication.