Extract Data From Legal Virginia Copyright Forms For Free

Which form should I use? Online registration through the electronic Copyright Office (eCO) is the preferred way to register basic claims. Paper versions of Form TX (literary works); Form VA (visual arts works); Form PA (performing arts); Form SR (sound recordings) are available on the Copyright Office website.

You can ask for it. If you know who the copyright owner is, you may contact the owner directly. If you are not certain about the ownership or have other related questions, you may wish to request that the Copyright Office conduct a search of its records or you may search yourself.

Order forms and other publications from Library of Congress, Copyright Office- COPUBS, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20559 or call (202) 707-9100 or 1-877-476-0778 (toll free). Access and download circulars and other information from the Copyright Office website at .copyright.gov.

You can search through copyright files by visiting the Copyright Office at .copyright.gov/records (see Figure 2, below). All copyright information is located in the Public Catalog (click ?Search Public Catalog?) which contains information about works registered since January 1978.

In general, all you need to do is create a work of authorship and write it down or otherwise record it somewhere. This will automatically create copyright protections. In theory, you do not need to own the original copy in order to own the copyright.

When you register a claim to copyright in a work with the Copyright Office, you create a public record of your claim. All information you provide on your copyright registration will be available to the public, and most of it will be available online.