Copyright Registration of Published Images
For works that have been published (in the specific meaning of copyright law, which isn’t always the same as common sense), you should send in your registration within 3 months of the actual publication.
To register one single published image, fill out one Form VA, which you can freely download from the Copyright Office web site. (For tutorial purposes, you may wish to look at our annotated PDF sample form. But for your actual filings, you should always obtain the latest version from the Copyright Office.) Using Adobe Reader or Acrobat, you can type directly into the fields to enter your data — except for the signature, which must always be hand-written — or you can simply print out the form and write or type your information using black ink. (Either way, be sure the two pages of the form are printed as front and back of one sheet of paper, correctly aligned top-to-top.)
You must also supply two copies (tear sheets, scans or photocopies of the printed page) of the image in its original published form. See our advice page for creating your deposit copies, then see our detailed instructions for Form VA.
However, it is most practical and efficient to register images in groups. First, the deposit requirements state that you need only one copy of each image for group registration. Second, you pay only one fee. The published images can be grouped if they meet certain date and authorship requirements. Read the requirements below and decide for yourself.
To register a group of two or more images published within the same calendar year, the recommended method is to submit Form VA with one or more Continuation Forms, Form GR/PPh/CON. (Again, for tutorial purposes, you may wish to examine our annotated sample form, but get the latest version from the Copyright Office when you file.) The form will ask you to give the publication date for each individual image. You do not need to supply copies of the “original published version” of each photo in the group, as you do for a single image, but you still need to supply a copy of the photos in some form; see our advice page for creating your deposit copies.
There is a catch: You may use no more than 50 continuation sheets with a single Form VA. This means you can register up to 750 images in a group. If you have more published images than that, you could divide them into several groups, submitting each with its own Form VA — and its own fee. Fortunately, there are alternatives that you can use if you need to register more than 750 images.
The step-by-step instructions for registering a group of images have more detail, but here are the criteria in a nutshell:
In order to group-register published images, you must meet all of the following requirements:
- The images must have all been published within the same calendar year.
- All of the works must have the same copyright claimant.
- All of the photographs must be by the same photographer. If an employer for hire is named as author, only one photographer’s work may be included.
If you are registering a number of images from several different calendar years, you must separate them by year and submit one Form VA for each year with a separate fee for each form.
It is best to file within 3 months of publication. You can register at any time, but to preserve the protection of collecting attorney’s fees and statutory damages for any infringements that have taken place before registration, you have to register within three months of first publication. If you do this, you are retroactively covered back to the actual day of first publication.
What if you missed the 3-month deadline? Well, you’re not doomed, but you are running a risk. If you don’t make the 3-month window, you are only eligible for attorney’s fees and statutory damages for those infringements that occur after your actual registration date. If you are infringed after the 3-month period and you have not submitted a registration, you can still register your copyrights and file suit, but you will not be eligible to ask for statutory damages or attorney’s fees. Instead, you will have to show actual damages, which puts a heavier burden of proof on you.
If you then register and another infringement occurs after the registration, you will be entitled to ask for statutory damages and attorney’s fees in connection with the latter infringement, as long as the copyright office has received your properly completed application.