Registration

The registration process is relatively simple. The U.S. Copyright office provides preprinted forms with instructions for the different types of work (including--but not all-inclusive--literary works, performing arts, visual arts, sound recordings, and serials. These forms can be obtained on the office's Web site. Registration requires a deposit of the work itself (or material that identifies the work) and a filing fee (in the neighborhood of $30).

Registration should be made in a timely manner. For a published work, registration must occur within 3 months of the first publication or before infringement begins. For unpublished works, registration is timely as long as it occurs before the infringement begins.

Statute of Limitations

In some cases it may be argued that the individual waited too long to file the lawsuit for infringement, thus violating the statute of limitations. In civil cases, this limit says you cannot file suit more than 3 years after the discovery of the infringement or after it "reasonably" should have been discovered. In criminal cases, the limit of the action is set at 5 years after the infringement occurred. In other words, those filing the suit cannot "sit on their rights" and allow damages to accumulate. They must act promptly (within a "reasonable" amount of time) to prevent further damage. Courts, however, do not always agree on the types of acts that start the calendar running for the statute of limitations period.