- jimnorcross[_at_]popmail.com wrote:
> I have a question about copyright registrations and
> whether I should register my material as a
> collection or individually.
>
> Background - For several years I wrote music reviews
> for a magazine, about 250 in all. I sold only
> one-time print rights, which they acknowledge, but I
> never registered the pieces. Last month I found they
> had resold/redistributed my content to 10 other
> publications, plus resold copies of my reviews off
> their own web site. I've sent a cease and desist,
> plus pay up letter, but both have been ignored.
> Filing a case is inevitable.
>
> I know I will have to register before I can take it
> to court. But at $30 a piece, and over 250 pieces,
> that gets expensive. I want to make sure I do the
> right thing because, at least on their site, DMCA
> violations are involved where they placed their
> copyright on my pieces.
>
> My question is - can I register each year (about 6
> years of 40 reviews per year) as a
> collection/collective, and still be able to sue for
> each individual piece? Or do I have to register each
> individual piece? Have there been any cases that
> brought up this issue? Even the attorney I
> approached was unsure about which direction to take.
> Thanks for any info someone might have on this
> issue.
You can register all the articles you published within
any 12 month period together as a group for one $30
fee. You fill out copyright registration forms TX and
GR/CP. By doing this, you are registering each article
separately, not as a single collectection.
You can find a detailed discussion of copyright
registraiton in a book called "The Copyright
Handbook." It's published by NOlo Press (nolo.com).
See pg. 4/42 for coverage of group registration of
articles.
I don't think you want to file 250 separate
infringement lawsuits to obtain damages for each
copied article. You can file a single suit covering
all the infringements and, if you win, you'll get an
award covering all the articles. However, unless the
articles were registered before the infringements
occurred or within 3 months of publication, you won't
be able to get statutory damages or attorney fees.
You'll only be able to collect your actual damages
from the infringements.
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Received on Fri Sep 27 2002 - 18:06:58 GMT