Short answer: registering your software with the U.S. Copyright Office is cheap and easy, and it unlocks two things you cannot get otherwise: your attorney’s fees and statutory damages. For a software company, that is some of the best legal insurance money can buy.
Most people do not realize there are four great reasons to register your software for copyright protection, and I recommend it for every software-based company. Copyright attaches automatically the moment your code is written, but registration is what gives the right real teeth.
1. It Is Easy.
You can file yourself or with the help of a software copyright attorney. In general it is not hard, and the Copyright Office application walks you through it. You deposit identifying portions of your code (and you can redact trade secret material so you are not handing your secrets to the world), and you are done.
2. It Is Inexpensive.
The filing fee is low, well under $100 for a basic registration, so cost is not a barrier. Compare that to the value of what it unlocks below and it is a rounding error in your legal budget.
3. Reimbursement of Attorney’s Fees.
If you sue for infringement based on a copyright that was registered before the infringement, federal law lets the court award you your attorney’s fees. This is a big deal, because in American litigation it is rare for a winning plaintiff to recover its attorney’s fees at all. (It cuts both ways: if you lose, you could be on the hook for the other side’s fees.) To get this, you generally need to register within three months of first publication, or before the infringement begins.
4. Statutory Damages.
Statutory damages are a fixed sum the court can award without you having to prove your actual losses. Proving business harm from infringement is hard and expensive (how exactly do you measure the revenue a lookalike cost you?), so this is a powerful alternative. Under 17 U.S.C. 504, statutory damages run up to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement. Same timing rule applies: register within three months of publication, or before the infringement, to qualify.
Register Early, Not After the Fact.
The theme across reasons 3 and 4 is timing. Both the fee-shifting and the statutory-damages benefits depend on registering before the infringement (or within that three-month window after publication). If you wait until someone has already copied you, you can lose those remedies for that infringement and be stuck proving actual damages the hard way. So build registration into your release process. It is the same “do it before you need it” discipline that makes the rest of your IP protection work (see 4 Things to Remember About Copyright Law, and how registration fits the bigger product-protection picture in Copyright Issues: SaaS Software).
Any software-based company should consider filing early. It is cheap, it is easy, and it can make a real difference to your overall IP protection. Trust me on this one.
For the foundational frame on the four IP regimes that protect software businesses, see Intellectual Property Basics for Software Companies.
Common Questions About Software Copyright Registration.
Do you have to register software to get copyright? No. Copyright attaches automatically when the code is written. Registration is what unlocks statutory damages and attorney’s fees, so it is worth doing anyway.
How much does it cost to register a software copyright? The basic filing fee is low, well under $100, so cost is rarely the obstacle for a software company.
When should you register? Before any infringement, or within three months of first publication. Miss that window and you can lose the statutory-damages and fee-shifting remedies for that infringement.
Resources:
- US Copyright Office FAQ
- 4 Things to Remember About Copyright Law
- Copyright Protection for Your Software’s GUI
- Who Owns Your Company’s Marketing Content?
Disclaimer:
This post is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not legal advice. You should hire an attorney if you need legal advice, which should be provided only after review of all relevant facts and applicable law.
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