Writer's Resources

Why and how
to register your articles

Prepared by the ASJA Contracts Committee

First Things First: The One-Paragraph Copyright Primer

As a freelance writer, unless you've signed a work-made-for-hire agreement or otherwise transferred copyright, what you write belongs to you. You need not put a little "c" in a circle on it. You need not register it with the Copyright Office. The work need not even be published for your copyright to take effect. The copyright is yours immediately. If your work appears in a periodical, the publisher owns the copyright in the entire issue as a collective work, but not in your individual work. The publisher may print a little © with its company name and file the issue with the Copyright Office, but its protection covers the issue as an issue, not the articles within. The copyright in your writing is yours unless and until, induced by cash or cowed by threats, you sign it away.

Why Register?

Under the law, if your copyright is infringed, you can't sue unless the work has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. You can, of course, wait until there's a problem before you bother filing a registration application. But there's a good reason to file as a matter of routine.

In copyright infringement cases, courts may assess two distinct kinds of damages.

Statutory damages--up to $100,000 if the infringement is judged to be willful--are available only if the work was registered no later than three months after first publication or, where the work was registered later than that, if the infringement begins after registration. ("Publication" means public availability, which may be earlier than the cover date.) In cases where statutory damages apply, the court may also award attorneys' fees.

Actual damages are monetary losses suffered by the infringed party--losses that are likely to be small as well as time-consuming and difficult to prove. What's more, courts are not free to award attorneys' fees in conjunction with actual damages.

So for infringement of articles not registered in time, it is rarely cost-effective to hire a lawyer and sue in federal court. (A suit in small claims court, based on contract rather than copyright, may make sense in such cases.) If you've registered your copyright in time, you're in a better position to inflict pain in a real lawsuit; thus, you have far greater clout.

In short: As a defensive move against infringement--such as unauthorized electronic use of an article--it can be wise to register each magazine and newspaper article you write.

Isn't Registration an Expensive Pain?

Actually, it's neither as costly nor as onerous as you may think. Registration costs $45, but you can gang articles on a single application to save on fees and drudgery. If you're a prolific article writer, the cost per story is quite low. To meet the within-three-months requirement, you need to file four times a year, each time listing your previous three months' published work; thus, four filings and $120 give you maximum protection on a year's output.

How To Do It

To group register, you need two official U.S. Copyright Office forms:

Form TX for nondramatic literary works (the streamlined Short Form TX may usually be used for a single work);

Form GR/CP for grouping published works on a single application.

You can obtain the forms directly from the Copyright Office by phoning (202) 707-9100 (available 24 hours a day). Leave a message; wait two to three weeks for the forms to arrive. If you have a computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download forms from the Copyright Office's Website; see address below. Photocopy them at will, but use a good grade of 8"-x-11" white paper, use both sides of the sheet, and match the layout of the originals. Type or print in black ink.

On Form TX, question 1, if you are registering two or more articles at the same time, enter "See GR/CP, attached." In question 2, under "Nature of Authorship," you should typically enter "Entire Text" or "Co-Author of Entire Text," whichever applies. If you're group-registering: in 3a, use the latest applicable date; in 3b, enter "See GR/CP, attached." In question 4, "Copyright Claimant," is ordinarily the same as the author: you. In question 5, under "Previous Registration," check "No" (remember that registration of the entire issue by the publisher does not constitute specific registration of your work). For most magazine or newspaper articles, ignore question 6.

On Form GR/CP, list articles chronologically, from earliest to latest, numbering the lines consecutively; no more than 12 months may separate the first from the last.

The Copyright Office's separate instruction sheets say that you must include the entire magazine or newspaper section in which each submitted article appeared--but that needn't actually be done. The Office advises that you may instead submit simple tearsheets or even photocopies. Just be sure to include with your application a letter asking that the Office "please accept the enclosed tearsheets [or photocopies] as part of ongoing special relief from the deposit requirement"; the request is routinely granted.

Enclose a check for $45, payable to Register of Copyrights. Mail your application to Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559-6000. Certified mail, return receipt requested, isn't a bad idea.

Four Frequently Asked Questions

How long will it take? Perhaps as long as 16 weeks. If you haven't heard by then, call the number below.

When does registration take effect? As soon as the application and supporting materials are received by the Copyright Office.

What do you do if an article appears in more than one periodical? Submit any published version, the earlier the better; if different published versions reflect only minor changes, you need not register each version.

What about unpublished works? You may also submit the manuscript version(s), but you may not use form GR/CP, nor may you mix published and unpublished works. Unpublished works may be grouped using form TX alone; simply use a descriptive title for the group, such as "unpublished writings, Jan-Mar 1996."

For More Information

Contact the U.S. Copyright office:

Phone: (202) 707-3000, 8:30 - 5 Eastern time, Monday - Friday

World Wide Web: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright