Copyright preregistration



The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 created a new procedure, known as copyright preregistration, intended to address some problems with works that are pirated before their lawful publication or official release by the copyright owner. Preregistration is available for certain types of work judged by the Copyright Office to be especially vulnerable to piracy before their lawful release or publication. These include motion pictures, musical compositions and sound recordings, computer software and videogames, literary works, and "advertising and marketing photographs."

A copyright owner can preregister these types of works if they are unpublished, but "being prepared for commercial distribution," meaning that the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation that the work will be commercially distributed to the public, and the work, if not finished, has at least been commenced. Upon submission of an application and fee, the Copyright Office will undertake a limited review of the work, and if approved, it will preregister the work and issue a certificate, much as in the case of copyright registration.

But preregistration is not a complete substitute for registration. Although preregistration allows an "action for infringement" to be "instituted" under 17 U.S.C. §411(a), preregistration, unlike registration, involves only a cursory review by the Copyright Office and consequently preregistration will not serve as prima facie evidence of the validity or ownership of a copyright. ==References==