A valid copyright notice is important in preserving rights, and should be placed on every copy of the material. This element is not required in the United States, but is needed to preserve rights in certain Central and South American nations. The notice preserves some of your legal rights, but copyrights should be registered with the Copyright Office to obtain enhanced protection. If your copyright was not promptly registered, you are limited to actual damages for the copying. It may cost more than it is worth to enforce a copyright that was not promptly registered.
Registration provides both additional remedies and procedural advantages.
To protect your right to seek statutory damages, register copyrights within three months of the first publication. If you have a valuable product and copying would harm your business, your copyright in that work should be registered even if it is not publicly accessible. Many entrepreneurs register their own copyrights. Registration takes three to four months, but if the form and fees were in order on the date received, the registration will be given that date. The material posted here is provided for informational purposes only, and is not personal legal advice.