Julie Broad explains why authors should register their copyright even though it's automatic. US registration is required to sue for infringement and counts as proof if done within five years of publishing. About 20 countries don't recognize automatic copyright, and registration creates a public record of ownership and timeline.
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Good news author. Your work is under copyright protection from virtually the moment it is created. From the moment you put your words to word processor on paper, painted, filmed or fixed in any other type of physical format, automatic copyrights apply. So if protection is automatic, then why would you want to file and pay money for an official copyright certificate? I'll explain in a sec. Stick around. Hi, I'm Julie the Book broad with book launchers.com we are your professional, professional self publishing team and we help you write, publish and sell a fantastic non fiction book. You can see all our services on our website@book launchers.com now let's get back to the incredibly not so exciting topic of copyright. Why should you file and pay for an official copyright if copyright automatically applies as soon as you create your book? Here's three reasons why you might want to do that. Number one, you already have copyright protection in the us but if you've written a book and you've ever needed to file on a copyright infringement case in a US court, this filing is required. If registration occurs within five years of publication, it's considered a prima facie. Is that how you say that? Prima facie? Prima faci. Prima faci. Did I say that word right? Prima facie. In less legal terms, it means that it's accepted as true unless concretely proven otherwise. Phew. In addition, there are 20 countries in the world that require you to file a copyright because they don't recognize automatic copyrights. Which means in those countries someone could republish your work and you have no defense in their courts unless you've filed for copyrights. Number two, if you want your book considered for inclusion in the Library of Congress, part of the process for submission is to file official copyrights. I actually covered that topic in this video right here. Ta da. Number three, finally, you may just wish to have the facts of your copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration and it makes the whole thing very official. If you file for copyright, there's very little that can be questioned about timeline and ownership in the future. Registration is voluntary, but could be useful. It's totally up to you. Your work can be protected by copyright, but your ideas ding. Cannot in the United States. The United States Copyright Office accepts registrations for my Canadian authors. Basically it's the same for you. It's totally voluntary and only really necessary in an infringement case. If you want to file, it's through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for. For a fee. And I don't know what that fee is. I'm sorry, you'll have to look it up on the website. I'm curious, will you be registering your copyright? Or if you've written a book, did you register your copyright share in the comments below? And if you like this tip, please hit that like button. Make sure you subscribe to the channel to get all the tips. Until next time.
