The world’s copyright registration service
Common questions
Why do some Internet sites and service providers ask for copyright registration evidence?
Internet service providers, marketplace and social media sites frequently receive ’take down‘ requests for content they host, but as many of these claims are false or malicious service providers often have a difficult task in determining who to believe. Because of this problem many now ask for independent evidence to back up a claim before they remove infringing material.
When is the best time 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.
Don’t worry if your work is still under development, as updates can easily be made using the registration update facility.
Where can I register my work?
Your work can be registered via our online registration facility, or by postal application form.
What if my work is infringed?
If an infringement is made on your work, the submission you made to Copyright Witness may be used to demonstrate the content of your work from the date of registration. At your request, we can produce copies of the work to verify your claim and help prove your case.
Why register?
As copyright is an automatic right, proving your claim may be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. All too often it is simply ‘their word against yours’ and if the other party has greater financial resources or reputation it may be difficult to get a ruling in your favour.
If your work is later passed off as the work of someone else, how do you prove that it was yours to start with?
Posting a copy to yourself is virtually worthless, as it is an easy task to open and replace the contents or simply seal the envelope later; so the other party can easily show that you had ample opportunity to tamper with the contents (though we are amazed how often this urban myth is still quoted as a ‘way to prove copyright’).
Registration provides verifiable evidence of your copyright claim
Many Internet service providers (ISPs), online marketplace sites like eBay and social media sites are now asking for evidence of registration before taking down infringing content.
How copyright registration helps
Independent proof of your work
A submission to our service creates an independently verifiable record of the content of your work as it existed at that point in time.
Our strict policies ensure that you have no way to change the content of your submission, so courts, tribunals and other decision makers know that that the evidence we supply is an accurate record of the content of your work as it was at the time of registration.
Deters infringement and reduces disputes
One of the advantages of registration is that when the defendant realises the weight of evidence is against them they will normally seek to come to an amicable arrangement and avoid legal costs. In many cases, simply stating that a work is registered with Copyright Witness may be enough to make a would be infringer think again in the first place.
Faster resolution of disputes
Having independent evidence of your claim can greatly speed up decisions that would otherwise tend to be ‘their word against yours’.
International protection
We are happy to supply evidence to support any case regardless of where in the world that may be. [There are also some additional considerations for citizens of the United States of America].
Evidence available time after time
Whenever you need proof of the content of your work, the evidence we supply is a verified copy of the original work deposited with us. This means you can ask us to provide 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 page about the copyright registration service standards.
