FAQs

Copyright is your exclusive legal right to use and distribute your work and to receive compensation - while excluding others from using your work without permission.

Copyright law gives the owner of a work (like a book, movie, picture, song or website) the right to say how other people can use it. Copyrights make it easier for authors to make money by selling their works and preventing others from copying their work without their permission or license fee.

This protection is available for both published and unpublished works. You automatically own a copyright when you create an original work... such as a book, play, blog, photograph, artwork or sound recording.

While not mandatory, it is good practice to give notice of your copyright by placing a copyright notice on your work, such as: © 2020 Your Name. All Rights Reserved. (Use the copyright symbol © or (c), the year and your name). For added deterrent, embed a CopyrightsLock Protection Shield in our content.

A copyright provides protection against illegal copying, theft or plagiarism of your work! While owning a copyright is automatic under U. S. copyright law, in order to enforce your rights you must register your copyrights with the U. S. Copyright Office!

Book, Poetry, Written Work, Blogs (Literal Works)
Considered Literary Works - includes a variety of works such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, textbooks, reference works, directories, catalogs, advertising copy, and compilations of information. This category also includes an article published in a serial, but does not not include an entire issue of a periodical or other serial.

Audio Recording / Audio Book (Sound Recording)
Used for a recorded performance and/or audio book. This category may also include elements of the underlying work, such as: "Manuscript" (for the Manuscript or Literary Work depicted in the Audio Recording), "Music" or "Sound Effects" as part of this Audio Recording.

Photo Book / Visual Arts or Illustrations (Work of the Visual Arts)
Used for registering a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. Visual Arts works include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, applied art, photographs, prints, art reproductions, maps and technical drawings.

Videos (Motion Picture/AV Work)
Used for registering YouTube or other videos displayed on YouTube, Vimeo and/or embedded on your website, blog or other electronic media. Typically requires a separate registration application for this content. Example: If you have a Landing Page with Text, Photos and Embedded YouTube Video, you would need two (2) copyright applications: one application for the landing page text and photos; another application for the video.

Websites
Websites are are copyrighted according to the predominant copyrightable content, such as text, images, photos, graphics, computer programs, music, sound recordings and video works

Other (Select for works which do not fit above)

CopyrightsLock™ is a break-through in technology... that helps to protect your content with a Protection Shield and scans the web for suspect infringements!

The system automates the complex process of sending properly formatted DMCA Takedown notices to the infringing sites and/or On-line Service Providers*.

* Under DMCA, copyright holders can provide notice of alleged copyright infringement by filing a DMCA takedown notice with the infringing website owner or Online Service Provider (OSP). The OSP is required by law to take down the content in order to maintain its 'Safe Harbor' protection against a lawsuit under DMCA.

DMCA stands for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.

A DMCA takedown notice is an official notice to a company, individual, search engine, ISP, OSP or web host informing them that the material they are posting or hosting infringes upon your copyrights. You can make this assertion without having registered your copyrights with the U. S. Copyright Office.

The website, hosting provider or on-line service provider that receives the notice should immediately take down the copyrighted material. If they don’t remove the material in question in a reasonable amount of time, then the ISP can forcibly take down the content.

However, the website owner may respond with a 'counter-claim' asserting the the material is not infringing on your content — in which case the website, ISP or OSP may restore the content.

The type of material protected under DMCA with a takedown notice includes: Print books, e-books, photos, artwork, illustrations, audio, music, videos and websites for which you own the the copyright to the content identified or are legally acting on behalf of the copyright owner. Ownership of other rights, such as publicity or commercial exploitation rights does not authorize a claimant to transmit a legal DMCA notice.

DMCA stands for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.

No... copyright registration is not required for your work to be protected by a DMCA takedown notice.

Content in a tangible form is automatically the intellectual property of the creator or author when it is created and the author holds all rights, unless transferred, and therefore can send a DMCA takedown notice.

However, if the receiving party of your takedown notice denies copyright infringement and sends a counter-notice stating as such, then if you wish to pursue legal action, you must file a lawsuit within 14 days.

However, under the recent U. S. Supreme Court ruling, your work must have been registered with the U. S. Copyright Office to file a lawsuit for copyright infringement and claim for monetary damages... so it's good practice to register your copyrights to maximize your protection options. This can easily be done using CopyrightsNow^®

CopyrightsLock™ is a DIY software application that empowers you to Protect Your Work from thieves taking your content illegally and uploading on the Web!

Simple Automated Process*... in 3 Easy Steps:

1. Register with CopyrightsLock™ to get your Protection Shield to embed in your work*
2. Register your manuscript content and reference your URL or representative text snippet as search parameters for your content. Then the system automatically scans the web for suspect sites that may be infringing your content... and sends you e-mail alerts if suspect sites are found so you can review the site(s) to determine if infringement has occurred and look-up the DMCA Designated Agent. Your CopyrightsLock Dashboard (on-line portal) transcks the status of your protection.
3. In one-click you generate and send properly formatted DMCA Takedown Notice(s) to the infringing sites DA to get your content removed! The system tracks all events in your Dashboard with timestamped audit trail for legal backup if needed.

* Automated processes require your expert review of suspect sites to determine if actual infringement has occurred.

CopyrightsLock is designed for non-technical creative people - authors, artists, illustrators, photographers, musicians, videographers - and publishers concerned about piracy and illegal copying of your copyrighted work!

The system performs automatic searches to seek-out bad actors who copy your work and publish online.

You receive e-mail confirmations of web scans... and alerts of suspect infringements... so you can review infringing links and initiate automated 'Takedown' notices from your personal Dashboard.

In general, a web page may be protected, but many websites may be too general to be protected as a whole. However, specific elements of the website can be protected. Each web page is considered a separate project, requiring a separate CopyrightsLock™ subscription.

However, you can insert your CopyrightsLock™ Protection Shield on multiple elements (without a separate subscription) to assert your ownership and thwart thieves.

You register your Website with CopyrightsLock, by indicating the URL that you want monitored for suspect infringements.

A DMCA Takedown notice only issues a warning and demand to takedown content from a website which you allege infringes on your copyrights!

Most infringers will comply and remove the illegal content upon receiving your notice. However, if the alleged infringing site responds with a counter-notice (which denies infringement), your only recourse is to file a copyright infringement lawsuit within 14-days. Keep in mind under a recent Supreme Court ruling you can not file a lawsuit unless you have registered your work with the U. S. Copyright Office, which can easily be filed using CopyrightsNow®

While you can issue 'Takedown' notices without registering your copyright, you must register in order to sue an infringer to enforce your copyrights, and if you register within 3-months of publication or before publication and before any infringement occurs, you maximize copyright protection... and may claim up to $150,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees for any infringement.

A one-time fee protects your work for your Lifetime + 70 years! Registration is available to both U. S. and International Authors using CopyrightsNow^®

DMCA applies to websites hosted or owned by U. S. companies. However, many international sites are hosted by a U. S. company.

The system provides detailed 'context-sensitive' on-line help system - so you get immediate answers to most questions!

If you need additional help, customer support is available via e-mail with most responses within 48-hours.

CopyrightsLock is a Do-It-Yourself App (using a PC, MAC, iPad or Tablet) not a Professional Full Service Takedown Service (where DMCA specialists handle the entire process for you!) If your content has been hacked or infringed and is posted on the web... or you have complex projects... this application may not be right for you... and you should use a Professional Service or Attorney.

A Professional Service may provide you with dedicated compliance experts to research, prepare and process Takedown notices, check sites for compliance, escalate to OSPs, handle correspondence and OSP push-back, and process search engine index removals.

We focus on the user experience to make our systems easy to use, reliable and fast! Our software systems are proven successful by thousands of global publishers, self-published authors, editors and agents... and has processed thousands of transactions! Our process uses 'best-practice' business methods.

We're a global technology and professional services firm - serving publishers and authors worldwide! Our technology offers unique patented solutions used by global publishers, self-published authors, editors and agents.