Media & Entertainment Law

Backlog at the Copyright office grows to two (2) years

By Gordon Firemark

According to Anthony Verna, who blogs at Trademark, Copyright, and Entertainment Law Forum, the Copyright office now reports that its backlog for registration of copyrights is now as long as two years.

Given that copyright registration is a prerequisite to pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit, it is very important that copyrights be registered as early as possible.

There are also some important advantages to filing copyright registrations early:

If a registration is filed within 90 days after first publication of a work, the successful plaintiff in an infringement suit will be entitled to statutory damages and attorneys fees.

Therefore, it is imperative that works be registered as soon as possible.  Failure to do so could make it difficult to pursue infringers later on.

Our office can advise and assist with copyright registration.  Please give us a call to discuss your options.

Full post as published by Entertainment Law Update on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).