REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
If you choose to register your work, you should send
the following three elements to the Copyright Office in
the same envelope or package:
l A properly completed application form
l A fee of for each application
l A deposit of the work being registered
The deposit requirements will vary in particular
situations. The general requirements are as follows:
If the work is unpublished one complete copy
or phonorecord
If the work was published in the United States on
or after January 1, 1978, two complete copies or
phonorecords of the best edition
If the work was first published in the United
States before January 1, 1978, two complete
copies or phonorecords of the work as first
published
If the work was first published outside the United
States, whenever published one complete copy
or phonorecord of the work as first published
If the work is a contribution to a collective work
and published after January 1, 1978, one
complete copy or phonorecord of the best edition
of the collective work
NOTE: The Copyright Office has the authority to
adjust fees at five-year intervals, based on changes in
the Consumer Price Index. Contact the Copyright Office
for the most current fees.
COPYRIGHT DURATION
A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the
first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically
protected from the moment of its creation and is
ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life —
plus an additional 50 years after the author’s death. In
the case of “a joint work prepared by two or more
authors who did not work for hire,” the term lasts for 50
years after the last surviving author’s death. For works
made for hire and for anonymous and pseudonymous
works (unless the author’s identity is revealed in
Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will
be 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation,
whichever is shorter.
Works that were created, but not published or
registered for copyright before January 1, 1978,
automatically have been brought under the statute and
are now given federal copyright protection. The
duration of copyright in these works generally is
computed in the same way as for works created on or
after January 1, 1978; the life-plus-50 or 75/100-year
terms will apply to them as well. The law provides that
in no case will the term of copyright for works in this
category expire before December 31, 2002, and for
works published on or before December 31, 2002, the
term of copyright will not expire before December 31,
2027.
Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was
secured either on the date a work was published or on
the date of registration if the work was registered in
unpublished form. In either case, the copyright lasted
for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured.
During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright
was eligible for renewal. The current copyright law has
extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for
copyrights that were subsisting on January 1, 1978,
making these works eligible for a total term of protection
of 75 years.
Public Law 102-307, enacted on June 26, 1992,
amended the Copyright Act of 1976 and automatically
extended the term of copyrights secured between
January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977 to the further
term of 47 years and increased the filing fee from
to . This fee increase applies to all renewal
applications filed on or after June 29, 1992.
Under Public Law 102-307, renewal registration is
optional. There is no need for the renewal filing to be
made in order for the original 28-year copyright term to
be extended to the full 75 years. However, some benefits
accrue to making a renewal registration during the 28th
year of the original term.
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