Registering Your Copyright: How to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office

10 August 2021||Jenn McNeely||Branding,Intellectual Property,Small Business,Tips and Tricks

Hi Legacy Builders! Welcome to the third lesson of the copyright chapter of the IP for Business Blueprint Course. I’m Jenn McNeely with JWM Designs and marketing, and in this video lesson, I’m going to talk about the basics of registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office. Now that you know what a copyright is and how to transfer your rights, you probably want to know what you as the owner of a copyright can do to protect your copyright.

Knowing your rights is a vital component to protecting your intellectual property. Your exclusive ownership rights to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, and create adaptations or derivatives of original creative work is not dependent on whether you register your copyright with the US Copyright Office. By default, once the creative original work is put in a tangible medium, it is protected by copyright law.

So what does registering your copyright do? Registering your copyright gives you additional legal tools that non-registered copyright cannot give you. The most important right registration gives you is the right to sue anyone who infringes on your ownership rights. Even though you may own the unregistered copyright, you cannot sue for infringement until the work is actually registered. Aside from the ability to sue for infringement, by registering your copyright with the US Copyright Office, you are essentially putting the public on notice that you own the copyright and you have the exclusive right to use the copyright nationwide.

What You Can Expect: Each week I will post a new chapter on my blog and my YouTube Channel. Be sure to download the e-notebook for this course. It is packed with so much information and with space for you to take notes.

Link to e-notebook: https://bit.ly/2SIufR8

Jenn McNeely

Since I can remember, I have always enjoyed challenging myself to never be confined to one industry or career. Stepping out of my comfort zone and pushing myself to learn new skills has been a staple of my personality and my approach to life. My absolute favorite part of what I do is interacting with new people and learning more about their businesses and interests.

I help clients do more than set up a website. I help them launch their businesses. I am there for my clients before, during, and after the launch to be a resource to them. My goal is for my clients to see a return on their investment of time and financial resources. It is not enough for me to create a beautiful website for my clients. My costs are directly related to what I believe it will take to reach my client’s goals. This may mean that companies like [insert low-cost company name here] will undercut me with lower prices, but I’m okay with that. Often times their fees eventually surpass mine once you add in all the elements that I provide wholesale.

Growing your online presence from scratch takes time but when done correctly will generate great returns. I am a firm believer in transparency with my clients and want them to truly understand what it means to work with me. So, here’s to trusting the process and taking client’s businesses to the next level.