Although copyright law protects work automatically, proving your claim may be a very difficult matter. All too often it boils down to a case of ‘their word against yours’. Without proper protection, something you’ve created could end up making money for someone else.
Why register?
Copyright law protects the creator of a work from having their work published, copied or broadcast in any way, unless permission is given, but can you trust those who get hold of your work to respect your interests? These issues seem especially worrying as many companies and individuals now also publish their work on the Internet.
If your work is later passed off as the work of someone else, how do you prove that it was yours to start with? Your friends and family may vouch for you, but their opinion is by nature biased, and the person who copied your work could easily get their friends and family to vouch for them too.
You could post a copy to yourself, (and we are still amazed how often this is quoted as ‘the way to prove copyright’
), but the reality is that as the copy you post remains in your possession, you have ample opportunity to tamper with the contents. Even if you did successfully use it, (and it would be a pretty poor lawyer who could not bring some doubt on it as evidence), once you used it, it has been opened and no longer sealed evidence if you need it again in an appeal or future infringement.
The best option is to have your work registered, so that in the event of a dispute, you have strong evidence to defend your claim as the copyright owner.
How registration helps
The aim of registration is provide irrefutable proof of copyright, helping you to prove your right if ownership is ever disputed.
Copyright Witness registration provides:
- Independent proof of your work
Our strict policies ensure that you have no way to change the content of your registration, this means we can be counted on to supply strong and independent evidence.
- Evidence available time after time
If your need to prove content of your work, we always supply this as a copy and do not return the original work deposited with us. This means you can use the evidence time after time without it losing validity.
- Secure, managed back-ups
Registrations are backed-up electronically, and stored in geographically separate locations. This means that your work will never be lost through data corruption, fire, or other problem. All back-ups are also encrypted, to ensure strict confidentiality and security.
For more details on how we ensure your work is looked after, please see our provision policy.
If your work is infringed...
If an infringement is made on your work, your entry in the Copyright Witness registry will provide strong evidence of your copyright ownership from the date of registration.
At your request, we can produce copies of the work registered, stating the registration date. This can be used as evidence in your case and thus verify your claim.
When to register
Generally speaking, the sooner the better. As the service provides evidence of your work from the date of registration, we always recommend that your work is registered before it is available for others to view.
Your work can either be registered via our online registration facility, which provides immediate cover, or via postal application using form F-01
Don’t worry if your work is still under development, as updates can easily be made using the registration update facility.
