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Copyright Law Group
Copyright law protects the things your business creates — the code your engineers write, the content your marketing team publishes, the designs, the photography, the music, the training materials, and the product documentation. Common law copyright attaches automatically the moment a work is fixed in tangible form. But without copyright registration, you generally cannot sue for infringement, and you lose access to federal courts, statutory damages, and attorney's fees. Without clear written assignments, you may not own what you paid a contractor to create.
Our Copyright Law Group helps companies and creators close those gaps — and enforce their rights when someone copies their work.
Copyright Registration
We prepare and file applications with the U.S. Copyright Office, including group registrations for photographs and serial publications, and registrations for software where trade-secret material needs to be redacted from the deposit.
Ownership and Work-For-Hire Cleanup
"We paid for it, so we own it" is one of the most costly misconceptions in business. Absent a written agreement, a contractor, freelance developer, designer, or photographer typically owns what they create. We audit your contractor and employee agreements and properly document ownership of the work product — before a buyer's diligence team finds them.
Licensing and Transactions
We draft and negotiate license agreements, content distribution deals, publishing and co-authorship agreements, music and sync licenses, and the copyright provisions in software, SaaS, and M&A agreements.
Copyright Enforcement
We help you analyze your unique situation and choose from options including cease-and-desist letters, DMCA takedown notices, platform escalations, negotiated resolution, and litigation when it's warranted.
Defense
If you've received an infringement claim or a takedown notice, we help you assess your exposure, evaluate fair use and license defenses, and how to respond.
AI and copyright
Questions about training data, ownership of AI-assisted output, indemnity terms in AI vendor contracts, and the registration limits on generated material -- this is an area of unsettled and changing law. We help clients make defensible decisions in the meantime.
Meet The Team
COPYRIGHT FAQS
Q: Do I need to obtain a copyright registration to have protection?
A: Yes. Common copyright attaches automatically when an original work is fixed in a tangible medium. But copyright registration is a prerequisite to filing an infringement suit for U.S. works, and timely registration is what unlocks statutory damages and attorney's fees. Ownership without registration is a right you often cannot practically enforce.
Q: How long does copyright registration take?
A: Processing times at the U.S. Copyright Office vary considerably depending on the filing type and whether the application has any outstanding issues that require correction. Current average processing times are published by the Copyright Office. In litigation-sensitive situations, expedited handling is available for an additional government fee.
Q: Can I copyright my business name or logo?
A: business name or trademark is not protectable by copyright — that's trademark territory. A logo may be protectable by both trademark and copyright law, if it contains enough original creative expression. Our firm handles both.
Q: We hired a contractor to build our website. Who owns it?
A: Absent a signed written agreement transferring rights to your company, the contractor owns by default. "Work made for hire" is narrower than most people assume and does not automatically apply to independent contractors. This is one of the most common issues we find in due diligence.
Q: What is fair use?
A: Fair use is a defense or excuse that permits certain unlicensed uses of copyrighted materials. Fair use is evaluated under a four-factor analysis including the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the market for the original. It is intensely fact-specific and is decided on a case-by-case basis, which is why it is a grey area so difficult to predict the outcome.
Q: Can I copyright something created with AI?
A: Material generated entirely by AI without human authorship is not registrable. Works combining human authorship with AI-generated material may be registrable as to the human-authored portions, and the Copyright Office requires disclosure of significant AI-generated content in the application. This is a developing and changing area of copyright law that requires close monitoring.
Q: Someone is using my work without permission. What are my options?
A: Your options range from a DMCA takedown notice to the hosting platform, to a cease-and-desist letter, to a negotiated license, to litigation. The right choice depends on who the infringer is, what you want the outcome to be, and whether your work is registered.
Q: How long does copyright protection last?
A: Generally, for works created after January 1, 1978, generally the life of the author plus 70 years. For works made for hire and anonymous or pseudonymous works, generally 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.