ABA Family Legal Guide

Forming and Operating a Small Business

Intellectual Property

Copyright

How do I get copyright protection?

Getting copyright protection is easier than getting a patent or a trademark. You have basic, common-law copyright protection automatically whenever you put your idea into a fixed form (write an article, record a song, make a videotape, store your software on disk).

You can get better copyright protection--that is, protection that's more apt to stand up in a legal fight--by placing the symbol © the year of first publication, and the name of the copyright holder prominently on every publication of the material. It also helps to file a copyright application for the artistic work with the Federal Copyright Office.