Yes, absolutely!

As part of our packages, we conduct due diligence or copyrightability test using applicable legal standards to determine legal risks which we can use to assess registrability and package recommendation.

Please contact us for more information.

To open in a new tab, click: Do you do free copyright search?

A Certificate of Registration of Digital File is an official document that functions as a valid evidence that a certain file existed at a particular time and that is in possession of the named Possessor. This certificate constitutes as evidence in the event that a copyright registration is challenged.

To open in a new tab, click: What is a Certificate of Registration of Digital File?

Amazon has its own policies when it comes to copyrights. As a seller you may be able to file a complaint against another seller who infringes upon your copyright material or work. In addition, having a copyright registration establishes legal presumption of ownership and validity.

Furthermore, you can stop Amazon sellers from successfully completing a sales transaction by obtaining border protection. Merchandise seeking entry into a country bearing infringing copyright that has been registered will be detained, seized, forfeited, and ultimately destroyed.

To open in a new tab, click: How will registering copyright help Amazon sellers?

No. Copyright registration protects original works while trademark registration protects distinctive marks.

For example, a logo consisting of mere stylization of a wording is not original, thus not copyrightable but it may however be registrable as a trademark.

To open in a new tab, click: Is copyright registration a replacement for trademark registration?

The best time to register your copyright is as soon as the material or work is completed because copyright an infringer can claim another person’s copyright by obtaining a copyright registration before the real creator or author does.

To open in a new tab, click: What’s the best time to register copyright?

Original product images that sellers upload in Amazon are copyright materials.

Copyrights confer automatic protection at the moment these materials are created. But enforcing copyrights is a different animal – an aspect which most, if not all, sellers do not pay attention to. As a result, hijackers conveniently copy these materials to pass off as their own without being penalized. As a defense, hijackers can always challenge a seller’s ownership of the copyrights. Therefore, the burden of proof to establish ownership of the copyrights is on the seller’s part. Without registration, the seller claiming copyright infringement is at a disadvantage.

The simple fix is copyright registration. Registering copyrights enforces an owner’s rights to his copyrights. It creates a public record of copyright ownership, therefore turning the table around. With copyright registration giving a legal presumption of ownership and validity of the copyrights, putting the hijackers on defensive to argue that there was no copyright infringement. Therefore, registration makes it easier for sellers to enforce rights in Amazon.

In addition, the following are some cool benefits of a copyright registration:

1. Only copyright owners are eligible for an award of statutory damages.  An award of statutory damages allows recovery for a certain amount for copyrights infringed.
2. Copyrights owners may record their copyright registration with U.S. Custom and Border Protection which has the authority to detain, seize, forfeit, and ultimately destroy merchandise seeking entry into the United States if it bears an infringing trademark or copyright that has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the U.S. Copyright Office (USCOP].

To end, copyright registration enhances and enforces an owner’s rights to his/her copyrights.

To open in a new tab, click: Why bother registering your copyright?

Yes, we do. Especially we recommend filing for copyright in China. Contact us for further details about filing copyright applications in other countries.

To open in a new tab, click: Do you file copyright applications in other countries?

Ensure that you have registered copyright for your photographs.

Make sure you physically affix your trademark to your products and/or packaging.

Make sure you are Brand Registered.

Consider putting watermark on your images.

To open in a new tab, click: How do I prevent others copying my photographs?

Report offending images via drop down menu “copyright” and choose images.

If you own copyright and a trademark, Amazon will remove offending images and issue a listing violation warning once you provide evidence of IP ownership.

You can also send the other seller an invoice for unauthorized use of your image (don’t count on the invoice been paid though).

Go on the offensive! Report them to Amazon for copyright theft. Usually Amazon will not even ask for proof of copyright ownership, as Amazon will automatically side with you to avoid getting drawn into the argument and tell the other seller it’s up to them to sort it out with you and (effectively) prove that they are not infringing.

To open in a new tab, click: What to do if my Amazon photographs have been copied by another seller?

Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

To open in a new tab, click: When is my copyrighted work protected?

The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.

To open in a new tab, click: Does “poor man’s” copyright exist?

Ideas, facts, and concepts are not protectable by copyright. However, the expression of those ideas, facts, and concepts are protectable. For example, anyone may “use” the ideas, facts, and procedures in a news article to write their own article that uses their own expression, but, with some exceptions, no one is allowed take the expression used by the author of the article to describe or explain those ideas, facts, and procedures. This is what is known as the idea/expression dichotomy. This distinction between what is and what is not protected by copyright encourages people to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by someone else while at the same time encouraging the creation and dissemination of the copyrighted work in the first place.

Although it is rare, there are times when the idea and the expression of the idea are so intertwined with one another that there is only one way or very few ways to express the idea. When the idea and expression of the idea merge like this the expression of the idea is not copyrightable. This is what is commonly referred to as the merger doctrine.

To open in a new tab, click: Are ideas protected by copyright?

Copyright protection is not available for:

• Procedures, processes, and methods of operation;
• Systems;
• Ideas, facts, and concepts;
• Principles and discoveries;
• Titles, slogans, and other short phrases;
• Lists of ingredients;
• Creations that are not fixed in a tangible form, like an improvisational comedy sketch;
• Information that is comprised completely of common property and no original authorship, like standard calendars, height, and weight charts, tape measures, and rulers;
• Utilitarian elements of industrial designs (although the expressive elements of the design may be protected, such as a decorative lamp base);
• Familiar symbols or designs, like a “Stop” sign;
• Simple geometrical shapes; and
• Mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring

In some cases, these things might be protectable under patent, trademark or trade secret law. For example, a slogan may be eligible for trademark protection and a process may be the patentable subject matter. Also, although an idea, fact or concept itself is not protectable, the expression of an idea, facts or concept, such as in description, explanation, or illustration may be protectable or as a database of facts.

To open in a new tab, click: What cannot be protected by copyright?

Copyright protects original works of authorship. Just about anything that can be fixed in a tangible form and constitutes a creator’s expression is protectable under the Copyright Act. A non-exhaustive list of copyrightable subject matter includes:

• Literary Works.This category of works includes things like novels, poems, short stories, periodicals, essays, dictionaries, manuscripts, periodicals and articles. It also includes software, such as smartphone apps, video games and business software.
• Musical Works and Any Accompanying Words.This category of works includes any work that consists of musical notes and lyrics in a musical composition.
• Motion Pictures and Other Audiovisual Works.This category includes, online videos, motion pictures and television shows, video games, and slideshows.
• Sound Recordings.A sound recording is a work that results from the fixation of sounds without a visual component, whether musical or spoken. This category of works includes music on CDs, podcasts, and recorded speeches.
• Pictorial, Graphic, and Sculptural Works.This category of works includes two and three dimensional works of fine, graphic and applied art, photographs, prints and art reproductions, maps, and diagrams.
• Dramatic Works and Any Accompanying Music.A dramatic work is one in which a series of events is presented to an audience by characters through dialogue and action. This category of works includes plays, operas and musicals.
• Pantomimes and Choreographic Works.This category of works includes dances.
• Architectural Works.This category includes not only the architectural plans but also the building and any associated drawings.

In addition to this list of works the copyright law also protects certain compilations and derivative works.

• A compilation is a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole meets the requirements for copyright protection. Compilations includes collective works, like periodicals, anthologies, encyclopedias and other works in which a number of independently copyrightable works are assembled, as well as, other works, like directories and databases, that incorporate and assemble pre-existing materials, data or other information that is not independently copyrightable.
• Derivative Works.A derivative work is a work that is based on one or more preexisting works that has been transformed or modified in some way. For example, an abridged, annotated or revised edition of a book, translations and musical arrangements.

Copyright protection in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the new material contributed by the author of the work and does not extend to either preexisting material included in the compilation or derivative work or any portion of a work that unlawfully incorporates copyrighted preexisting material.

To open in a new tab, click: What can be protected by copyright?

To open in a new tab, click: What is the difference between copyright and other forms of Intellectual property?

Generally, a copyrighted work is protected for the length of the author’s life plus another seventy years. In the case of joint works, copyright protection is granted for the length of the life of the last surviving joint author plus another 70 years. Works made for hire, as well as anonymous and pseudonymous works, are protected for a term of either 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever is shorter. Copyright duration in Canada is the creator of the works lifetime, plus 50 years from the end of the calendar year that the creator died.

On 30 September 2018, Canada, the United States and Mexico completed negotiations on a new trade agreement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Note that NAFTA will continue in effect until the USMCA is ratified in each of the three countries. You can read the text of the agreement here.

Under the USMCA, the minimum duration of copyright protection in the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be life-plus-seventy. For the current time, the duration of copyright protection in Canada remains life-plus-fifty.

In addition, effective 23 June 2015, Canada extended the protection of copyright in specific works only — performances and sound recordings — by an additional 20 years to 70 years after the release date of the sound recording.

When the term of protection for a copyrighted work expires, the work enters into the public domain.

To open in a new tab, click: How long does copyright protection last?

A copyright notice does not need to be affixed to a copyrighted work for the work to be protected under the law.

A proper copyright notice consists of the following three elements.

• © Symbol: Most works should include the © symbol. (Although U.S. law also allows the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”, the © symbol is preferable because it is internationally recognized whereas the other terms may not be). In the case of sound recordings, the ℗ symbol (the letter “p” in a circle) should be used instead.
• Year of Publication: If the work has been published, the year of publication should be included. If the work is unpublished the notice should indicate the unpublished nature of the work in lieu of a year. The year does not need to be included on pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, with accompanying text, if any, reproduced in or on any useful article, such as greeting cards, stationery, or jewelry.
• Copyright Owner’s Name: The notice should include the name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner.

For example, a proper notice would look like this: © 2017 Copyright Alliance

To open in a new tab, click: What is the form of a copyright notice?

There are many reasons why you should use a copyright notice

• Copyright notice makes other users aware that copyright is being claimed in the work.
• Notice identifies the copyright owner at the time the work was first published for parties seeking permission to use the work.
• Notice identifies the year of first publication, which may be used to determine the term of copyright protection in the case of an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire.

• Notice may prevent the work from becoming an orphan work by identifying the copyright owner and specifying the term of the copyright.

To open in a new tab, click: Should I use copyright notice?

There are three basic requirements that a work must meet to be protected by copyright:

• Originality: To be original, a work must merely be independently created. In other words, it cannot be copied from another. There is no requirement that the work be novel (as in patent law), unique, imaginative or inventive.
• Creativity: To satisfy the creativity requirement a work need only demonstrate a very small amount of creativity. Very few creations fail to satisfy this requirement.
• Fixation: To meet the fixation requirement a work must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Protection attaches automatically to an eligible work the moment the work is fixed. A work is considered to be fixed so long as it is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.

These three requirements do not present a difficult obstacle to overcome to receive protection. Unlike the requirements for protection under patent or trademark law, very few works that fall within the subject matter of copyright fail to satisfy all three of these requirements.

Significantly, there is no requirement that the copyright owner register the copyrighted work with the U.S. Copyright Office or place a copyright notice on the work to obtain copyright protection for the work.

To open in a new tab, click: Requirements for copyright protection

Keep in mind that it takes many months for the Office to examine your work and get back to you. The process can also be as brief as three months if a copyright application filed online. But a timeframe of 6 to 8 months is more realistic. And don’t be surprised if it takes as long as 9 to 10 months to be notified that your registration application has been approved.

In Canada, registration process is much quicker and usually takes less than a month. In China it also takes about two months or less.

To open in a new tab, click: How long does it take to register copyright?

Government fees for registering copyright online in the US:

• a lower filing fee ($35 for a single author who is also the sole claimant in a single work that is not made for hire, or $55 for all other online filings, compared to $85 for a paper filing).

It’s important to understand that you can still register online even if you intend to submit a hard-copy deposit simply by printing out a shipping slip to be attached to your work for delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.

Government fees for registering copyright online in Canada:

Accepting an application for registration of a copyright – C$50 ($38)

*If the application and fee are not submitted online through the Copyright Office, via the Canadian Intellectual Property Office web site, an additional fee of $15 is required.

Government fees for registering copyright online in China: $48.

We always file copyright online. Please note that we don’t file copyright registration via a paper filing.

To open in a new tab, click: What are the copyright government fees?

1- a completed application form;

2- a nonrefundable filing fee (we’ll pay on your behalf); and

3- at least one copy of the work being registered.

To open in a new tab, click: What’s required to file a copyright application?