Copyright Registration, Infringement, Defense, and DMCA Services
Copyright Registration
Are you the author of a new creative work such as a film, artwork, song, video, or new source code? Do you need to register your copyrighted material to formalize ownership at the US Copyright Office to put the rest of the world on notice as to your copyright ownership? It is never too late to register your creative works at the US Copyright Office if you have not already. Registration of your creative works can be accomplished using flat-fee services in most cases. Our experienced copyright registration attorneys can file expedited applications for copyright litigation purposes, we can file compilations, works with multiple owners, groups of unpublished works, and more for content creators around the United States and throughout the world.
Why register my creative work?
Protect Your Works
Make sure you put others on notice as to the ownership of your creative works.
Stop Infringers
Give yourself more options if your rights are infringed. Registered works are eligible for statutory damages and attorneys' fees.
Do More with Your Works
Receive a certificate of registration proving your ownership so you can seek more higher tier licensing opportunities.
What is copyrightable subject matter?
- Audiovisual works such as film or video
- Literary works such as a script, book, or poetry
- Audio and musical works such as sound recordings and/or sheet music
- Artistic works including pictorial, drawings, or sculptural works
- Software source code
- Choreographed and architectural works
- Other creative works that are tangible in form
What is not copyrightable subject matter?
- A name, slogan, or logo used in marketing goods or services. To protect these you need a trademark.
- A novel invention like a technical process, machine, article of manufacture, chemical formula, or design. For this type of intellectual property, look into a patent.
- Confidential formulas or know-how may be best protected as a trade secret.
- Facts or ideas
DMCA and Copyright Enforcement
Our Colorado based copyright infringement attorneys have experience both pursuing and defending copyright infringement claims and we can evaluate your choices via a free consultation with an experienced attorney. Do you have a group of works you need monitored online? Are you a company or brand owner seeking to prevent your NFTs from being pirated or infringed by others on NFT marketplaces operating on the ethereum or solana blockchain? Our attorneys use and understand our proprietary software tools to monitor your intellectual property online across the internet and can provide you periodic reports of activity and use. Is someone distributing videos or photographs you took without your permission? Our lawyers can help you remove the content in most situations if you are the owner or are have permission to act on behalf of the owner. Do you operate a website with user generated content that requires a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) agent to give yourself a shield against copyright infringement? Contact one of our attorneys to discuss how to resolve these kind of matters.
Services related to copyright law includes preparing and sending cease and desist letters to infringing parties, preparing and sending DMCA notices to websites and infringers hosting your works without permission, acting as a DMCA agent on behalf of internet service providers, identifying and locating infringing activity, registration of works at the copyright office, and more.
Online DMCA Takedown Services
Send a DMCA takedown notice today.
Copyright Infringement Litigation
Receiving of notice in the mail or email informing you to prepare to defend against a claim for copyright infringement in federal court is intimidating. The litigation costs to defend a claim for copyright infringement can quickly get expensive even during the lead up to a trial. Infringement defense costs including depositions, damages experts, pre-trial motions, and more can quickly add up. In cases where claimed damages are less than $1,000,000.00, defending against copyright infringement through trial in Colorado alone can average over $310,000.00 total in attorneys fees and court costs.
The copyright infringement defense attorney team is well aware of the various legal defenses to copyright infringement claims including defenses for online piracy through services like Bit Torrent to unlawful broadcasts such as pay-per-view events via satellite or cable. Our flat-fee rates are fair and we can help you avoid the high costs of litigation to save you real money. Of course, if your defenses to the copyright infringement claim are strong enough, we can also seek an early dismissal without having to go to trial. Don’t pay overpriced intellectual property law attorneys who want to pad their bottom line with high priced hourly rates. Contact us today for a free consultation with an experienced intellectual property litigator familiar with Bit Torrent and Peer-to-Peer networking not just as a lawyer but as an IT professional.
Even if you or your website have intentionally or inadvertently violated copyright laws, this does not mean that the owner of the work is entitled to the maximum damages they are stating in their demand. You may indeed not have actually violated the law at all because you may qualify for one or more affirmative defenses to infringement. This does not matter in the eyes of certain right-holders; these organizations operate a system under which they may sue multiple defendants at one time, hoping for quick settlements.
If you are a defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuit or if your records are being subpoenaed for an alleged unauthorized downloads via Bit Torrent or other peer-to-peer or file-sharing networks, the Colorado copyright infringement defense attorneys at our law firm can help. Some defendants call them “trolls,” while plaintiffs argue they are protecting the copyrights of their clients. Depending on the where you are in the litigation, we can recommend as a defense strategy to motion to quash the subpoena and argue other procedural defenses to ensure that plaintiffs aren’t getting away with any short cuts or questionable methods. Without admitting to liability, our clients have settled a number of infringement claims out of court, thereby saving them thousands of dollars in otherwise costly litigation and other defense costs.
If you hire our Denver, Colorado based copyright infringement defense team, we can also force the plaintiff to understand your defenses and evaluate the claim on its actual merits. It is possible to prove, before litigation, that the claim lacks merit and the “owner” is not entitled to any damages or damages far less than what they are seeking in their letter or lawsuit. It is often possible to question certain elements of a copyright infringement claim into question, causing the plaintiff to reconsider how seriously they should pursue a lawsuit.
Copyright Law FAQ
If you are the original author of the work, you have a copyright on the work. However that work might not be registered at the US Copyright Office.
The DMCA is short for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law at the time modernized copyright law for the internet age and has provided a number of protections against copyright infringement that has allowed certain companies relying on user content like Youtube and Facebook to flourish and grow.
Possibly. That isn’t a simple determination and a number of different factors goes into the assessment of whether the use in question is considered fair use.
Probably not. Unless the image or work specifies that the work is in the public domain, you may be infringing on someone else’s work. Even though social media encourages copying and posting the works of others, it doesn’t mean that the action isn’t technically an infringement.
If you received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice, a copyright owner or their agent has likely detected what they believe to be infringing activity coming from your IP address or website. If a demand notice for copyright infringement accompanied the DMCA notice you received, it is probably best practices to contact an attorney.
There are several ways to approach this problem depending on the outcome you want. An attorney can help guide you through your options and how to get the results you want.
Possibly. You may need to consider a DMCA agent for your online service. Please consult an attorney
Vicarious or contributory infringement are types of secondary copyright infringement so it is separate from a claim for direct copyright infringement. Vicarious or contributory claims require some intent of the defendant to induce or materially contribute to a direct infringement. Examples include internet companies like Napster and Grokster were sued for contributory infringement because the internet services allowed users to freely download copyrighted works.
