Whether for professional objectives or personal issues, everyone must confront legal matters at some point in their life.
Completing legal paperwork requires meticulous care, starting from selecting the correct form template.
If you want to claim the copyright for the composition or underlying musical work; fill out Form PA (Performing Arts). If you want to claim the copyright for a sound recording or recorded performance; fill out Form SR (Sound Recording).
Form PA is used for the registration of music and/or lyrics (as well as other works of the performing arts), even if your song is on a cassette. Form SR is used for registering the performance and production of a particular recording of sounds.
Form SR should be used when the copyright claim is limited to the sound recording itself, and it may also be used where the same copyright claimant is seeking simultaneous registration of the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work embodied in the phonorecord.
As part of the Library of Congress since 1870, and recognized by Congress as a separate department of the Library since 1897, the Copyright Office registers copyright claims, records information about copyright ownership, provides information to the public, and assists Congress and other parts of the government on a ...
And as mentioned before, the copyright symbol is generally not necessary. But the function of the symbol remains the same?to give notice that the identified work is protected by copyright.
Order forms and other publications from Library of Congress, Copyright Office- COPUBS, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20559 or call (202) 707-9100 or 1-877-476-0778 (toll free). Access and download circulars and other information from the Copyright Office website at .copyright.gov.
The Single Application can only be used to register works created and owned by a single individual. This means that a work cannot be registered using the Single Application if it was created jointly by two or more authors, is a work made for hire, is a work that incorporates material created by someone else, etc.
Which form should I use? Online registration through the electronic Copyright Office (eCO) is the preferred way to register basic claims. Paper versions of Form TX (literary works); Form VA (visual arts works); Form PA (performing arts); Form SR (sound recordings) are available on the Copyright Office website.