A claim in "compilation" does not include the material that has been compiled. If that material should also be included in the claim, check the appropriate additional boxes. If you regularly create new versions of your software you can file new applications for each, being careful to indicate the previous versions in Section 4.
You're probably best off only bothering with applications for major revisions. Form CO asks for a listing of the person to contact for permission to use the material. If this is the same as the copyright claimant, you can simply check the box and the information will be generated to complete this section. Again, all the information given in this section, including name, postal address, email address, and phone number, will be made part of the online records produced by the Copyright Office and cannot be removed later from those public records.
This is the person in your band that the Copyright Office should contact with any questions about this application. If this is the same as the first copyright claimant or the rights and permissions contact, simply check the appropriate box. Information given only in this space will not appear in the online public record. This is the person to whom the registration certificate should be mailed. If this is the same as the first copyright claimant, the rights and permissions contact, or the correspondence contact, simply check the appropriate box.
After you print out the completed application, be sure to sign it. Choose "today's date" or "write date by hand. If your application gives a date of publication, do not certify using a date prior to the publication date. Leave this line blank unless you have a Copyright Office deposit account and are charging the filing fee to that account.
If you have an internal tracking number, enter it here. Here's where things can get a little murky. If you're willing to file a copy of the source code with your application, then your copyright will extend to all manifestations of that source code—that is if the source identifies or shows your screen shots, then the screen shots will be included in the copyright.
Some developers are not comfortable with furnishing all of the source code and prefer to file portions of the object code — that is the binary file or in Java, the byte code. If that's the case, we recommend reading Copyright Circular Copyright Registration for Computer Programs as that document explains your choices.
Need help? The Copyright Office has done a nice job of explaining the process and making it user-friendly with a tutorial and FAQs.
The eCO process is peppered with helpful drop down menus, as well as hypertext links that provide pop-up explanations for each aspect of the application process. The explanations for paper forms provided earlier in this section should aid you answering the online interview—for example, how to respond to questions regarding the nature of work, title, date of publication, etc.
You can expedite your filing. You cannot choose this service for mere reasons of convenience; it is only allowed in urgent cases. Examples of an urgent need include: upcoming litigation, a pending customs matter, a looming contractual or a publishing deadline. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site.
The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Talk to a Lawyer. Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. Copyright safeguards the rights of creators over their creations.
The main categories of creative works are literary, artistic, education, cinematograph films, and music recordings. Copyright is registered and assigned for a fixed number of years and renewable. It is the legal right to print, publish, perform, or record assigned exclusively to the originator of creative work. An algorithm is a well-defined process and a series of steps to perform the calculations, data processing, and automated reasoning on a computer. Therefore, you cannot register an algorithm under copyright law.
You can understand it in this way. Suppose any other programmer developed a different program but carried out the same steps given in your software, then that programmer has not necessarily infringed your algorithm copyright.
Computer Software or programs can be registered for copyright. Computer software is a collection of instructions to tell the computer how to work. It includes computer software or programs, tables, compilations. But if you registered the work before the infringement began or within three months of the date the work was published, you may be entitled to recover from the infringer, in addition to your actual damages:.
Not all the benefits of prompt registration relate to litigation. In fact, early registration can help keep you out of court. A patent will protect things like:. You can use two types of patents to protect software: utility and design.
Utility protects what the software does. Design protects any decorative part of your software. Unlike copyright law, patent law protects the invention itself. That way, someone can't create a software program with different code that does the exact same thing your software does. But the patent doesn't protect your specific lines of code against plagiarism the way copyright does. Keep in mind: you register your copyright, so you aren't applying for anything. You do apply for a patent, which means you might not receive the patent.
If you include information in your published patent application, that information is no longer a trade secret. Getting a software patent has been the subject of lots of legislation, including Supreme Court cases. The precedence for software patents isn't always clear, making getting a software patent even more difficult.
A patent in the U. If you need a patent in other countries, you have to apply in each of those countries. Because patent law is different in every country, what gets you a software patent in the U. A trade secret is information you or your company has that other people don't have.
You use this information in business, and it gives you a leg-up over your competition. You don't file any documents or apply with an office to get a trade secret. Instead, the way you treat your software can make it a trade secret. You have to take "reasonable measures" to keep the software a secret:.
You can maintain a trade secret for as long as you want. Unless someone discovers your secret by what the law calls "fair means," your trade secret will last forever.
If someone else discovers, on their own, a trade secret similar to yours, you can't take legal action. Sometimes companies and individuals don't see trade secrets as secure enough protection for valuable software inventions. One difficulty with copyright and software comes from companies who hire software developers. Usually, copyright law says that whoever creates the work owns the copyright.
However, the law also contains language to cover work-for-hire. If you are an employee of a company, and you create software for that company, the company owns the copyright. That gives the company copyright ownership of the code, not the individual who created it. Some other work you might hire independent contractors to do automatically falls under "work-for-hire":.
If you work as an independent contractor, you own the copyright to your work even if you create it for a company. You and the company have to sign a contract stating they own the copyright to change that, or you can license your software to the company instead of handing over the copyright. Whether you're a business or an independent contractor, it's best to get these details out of the way before work starts. Who owns the copyright of software matters because of what copyright allows you to do with the code:.
A license allows another party, like a business, to use the software you developed. Handing over the copyright, or assigning the copyright, gives them legal ownership of the copyright.
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