Tisha Morris explains when to use copyright.gov versus WGA registration for screenplays. File your final draft with copyright.gov for full legal protection in court. Use WGA registration for earlier drafts shared with collaborators, it costs $25 and creates a timestamped record.
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Hey there, this is Tisha, and today I am talking about copyrights. Okay, a specific question I get a lot, and this mainly pertains to screenwriters, because it's whether to file your copyright with the Copyright Office or the WGA or just mail yourself your copy in the mail. Okay, don't worry about the third one, that's a waste of time. So let me talk about the first two. The copyright.gov, that's the official Copyright Office.. And that's where you want your final or nearly final manuscript or screenplay to be filed, because that's the only place you can get the real benefits in the case that you needed to, um, pursue an infringement case, uh, with your work. Now, the drafts leading up to that point, if you're still working on it and you're maybe you're shopping around to some people having some other third parties look at it, that's a good time to use the WGA service, $25. But for the final one, you want the Copyright Office.