Copyright registration

Your copyright exists the moment the book is fixed in tangible form, so registering is not what gives you ownership; it is the public record of the claim and the step that unlocks certain legal remedies in the United States. Traditional and hybrid contracts vary, in that many commit the publisher to register in the author's name and some do not mention it at all, so normally you read the agreement and then ask in writing who files and in whose name. If you publish the book yourself, or the contract leaves it to you, filing is yours to do once the book is in final form. Record the registration number and date with the rest of the book's records.

Copyright registration is the act of filing a claim for a literary work with the United States Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress, and depositing a copy of the work. Copyright itself exists automatically the moment a work is fixed in tangible form; registration is the public record of the claim and the step that unlocks certain legal remedies in the United States.

Registration is done online through the Copyright Office's electronic system, with a small number of paper options. The result is a registration number and a certificate, and a public record that anyone can search.

The official public record of who claims copyright in the work, the year of creation and publication, and the registration number. It does not control how the book is listed anywhere else, and it is not connected to the ISBN, the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN), or Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data. The Library of Congress states plainly that there is no relationship between the CIP program and copyright registration.

Read the publishing agreement to find out who registers. Many traditional contracts commit the publisher to register in the author's name; some do not mention it. Ask, get the answer in writing, and record the registration number and date when it arrives.

If you publish the book yourself, or the contract leaves it to you, register through the Copyright Office's online system once the book is in final form. Online filing costs less than paper, and the single-application route (one work, one author, one claimant) costs least of all. The current amounts, and the day we read them, are on this page under Price.

Registration is a separate legal step from sending deposit copies under the mandatory deposit rules, and separate again from CIP. Do not assume one covers the others.

1. Open the Copyright Public Records Portal at publicrecords.copyright.gov (opens in a new tab).
2. Search by title, author name, or claimant name.
3. Confirm the record shows the correct title, claimant, and year, and note the registration number.
4. If the publisher registered on your behalf, ask for the certificate or registration number and file it with your book records.

A copyright registration number is not an ISBN, an LCCN, or an OCLC number. The copyright notice on the copyright page (the © line) is not registration either; the notice can appear on a book that was never registered. CIP data and the LCCN come from a different part of the Library of Congress and have nothing to do with ownership of the work.