The second measure that improves your rights is registration. Registrationis not required for a copyright to exist, but it is a prerequisite to a suit for infringement of US works. These are monetary damages awarded at the court's discretion without regard to your actual loss. You may register your copyrights at any time during the term of copyright. Use Form PA to register works of the Performing Arts, including plays and movies.
Registration is critical for publishers, but of limited importance forfreelance writers.
Most writers don't earn enough to justify the cost of registration for articles, poems and other short works. If you work in longer media, such as novels and plays, and succeed in getting these published, your publisher will normally attend to registration. Moreover, because failure to register only loses you statutory damages and the ability to file your lawsuit immediately, only authors with bountiful time and money, or with special reasons to fear infringement of their works, should choose to register on a regular basis. Besides, infringement is the exception. Where it occurs, it usually can besettled without lawsuits or registration.