Online Registration
The U.S. Copyright Office provides a means of applying for copyright registration on its webpage.
U.S. Copyright Office Online Registration System - eCO
This U.S. Copyright Office tutorial provides detailed information about registering a copyright in the eCO system.
U.S. Copyright Office eCO Tutorial
Paper Registration
The U.S. Copyright Office provides forms that may be used to apply for copyright registration and are available on the Copyright Office website.
Continuation Sheet - used in conjunction with the above forms when more space is necessary,
Supplementary Copyright Registration - used when an existing copyright registration needs to be amended or amplified.
Renewal Continuation - to be used in conjunction with a renewal application form when more space is necessary.
Addendum to Renewal Form - must accompany all renewal forms for works published between January 1, 1964 and December 31, 1977 that were not registered during the first 28 year term.
Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, 3rd Ed.
The Compendium documents and explains the many technical requirements, regulations, and legal interpretations of the U.S. Copyright Office with a primary focus on the registration of copyright claims, documentation of copyright ownership, and recordation of copyright documents, including assignments and licenses. This online document includes links to relevant law and regulations.
Chapter 200 - Overview of the Registration Process
This chapter provides an overview of the copyright registration system and the practices and procedures for submitting an application to register a work created or first published on or after Jamuary 1, 1978.
Chapter 300 - Copyrightable Authorship - What Can be Registered
This chapter discusses the U.S. Copyright Office's practices and procedures for copyrightable authorship.
Chapter 400 - Who May File an Application
This chapter provides information on who may and may not submit an application to register a copyright claim.
Chapter 500 - Identifying the Work
This chapter provides guidance on how to identify the work that the applicant intends to register with the U.S. Copyright Office. It explains how to identify the copyrightable authorship that can be submitted for registration and how to describe the claim to copyright in that authorship. It assists copyright owners, courts, and the general public in understanding the scope of the registered copyright claim. It also provides a general overview of certain forms of authorship and ownership that are recognized under the copyright law, including joint works, works made for hire, derivative works, compilations, and collective works.
Chapter 600 - Examination Practices
This chapter sets forth the practices and procedures for examining applications for registration of basic claims.
The Copyright Act defines a literary work as “works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonorecords, film, tapes, disks, or cards, in which they are embodied".
This Chapter discusses the U.S. Copyright Office’s practices and procedures for the examination and registration of literary works, including serials, computer programs, databases, and other types of works including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, directories, catalogs, textbooks, reference works, advertising copy, compilations of information, computer programs, and databases.
Chapter 800 - Works of the Performing Arts
This chapter discusses practices and procedures for the examination and registration of works of the performing arts, including musical works, sound recordings, dramatic works, choreographic works, pantomimes, audiovisual works, and motion pictures.
Chapter 900 - Visual Art Works
This chapter discusses practices and procedures for the examination and registration of visual art works, including architectural works and a wide variety of pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, including jewelry, photographs, catalogs, maps, technical drawings, and other types of works.
Chapter 1000 - Websites and Website Content
This chapter discusses practices and procedures for the examination and registration of copyrightable content contained on websites.
Chapter 1100 - Registration for Multiple Works
This chapter discusses the options for registering multiple works with the U.S. Copyright Office with one application, one filing fee, and one set of deposit copies.
This chapter discusses the U.S. Copyright Office’s practices and procedures for the examination and registration of mask works fixed in semiconductor chip products.
This chapter discusses practices and procedures for the examination and registration of claims in vessel designs.
Chapter 1400 - Applications and Fees
This chapter provides a general overview of the types of applications that may be used to register a work of authorship created or first published on or after January 1, 1978. It also discusses the filing fees for applying to register a work
This chapter discusses the deposit requirements for a variety of creative works. It discusses the deposit requirements for copyright registration, and it discusses the mandatory deposit requirement (i.e., the deposit to the Library of Congress that is required of all works that are published in the United States).
Chapter 1600 - Preregistration
This chapter provides information on the U.S. Copyright Office’s practices and procedures for preregistration. Preregistration provides certain copyright owners with the ability to sue for infringement and seek statutory damages and attorney’s fees in cases where the work was infringed before the copyright owner completed the work and released it to the public. The vast majority of works are not eligible for this procedure.
Chapter 1700 - Administrative Appeals
This Chapter discusses the process for appealing a refusal to register a copyright claim within the U.S. Copyright Office.
Chapter 1800 - Post-Registration Procedures
This chapter sets forth the practices and procedures for modifying the registration record for a claim after the U.S. Copyright Office has issued a certificate of registration. The topics discussed in this Chapter include correcting or amplifying the information in a copyright registration, cancelling a copyright registration, and asserting an adverse claim to copyright.
This chapter provides a definition and discussion of publication for works created or first published on or after January 1, 1978.
This Chapter explains when authors of foreign works may apply to register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office. This Chapter also discusses Form GATT, which is available for foreign “restored” works that are eligible for copyright protection under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).
Chapter 2100 - Renewal Registration
This Chapter discusses the practices and procedures for seeking a renewal registration for works that secured copyright by registration or publication between 1964 and 1977.
Chapter 2200 - Notice of Copyright
This chapter discusses the notice requirements for U.S. works published in copies and phonorecords in the United States between January 1, 1978 and February 28, 1989, when copyright notice was required for published works.
This Chapter discusses the practices and procedures for recording the following types of documents with the U.S. Copyright Office, including transfers of copyright ownership, notices of termination, and other documents pertaining to copyright.
Chapter 2400 - U.S. Copyright Office Services
This chapter discusses the practices and procedures for searching, retrieving, viewing, inspecting, copying, and certifying certain public records that are maintained by the U.S. Copyright Office. It also discusses other services provided by the Office, such as issuing additional certificates of registration and arranging for the full-term retention of deposits.