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Copyright Acquisition and Counseling

Copyright law is applicable to content creators or all types, including artists, writers, publishers, and businesses. At Allen, Dyer, Doppelt + Gilchrist, our Florida copyright attorneys have the depth of experience needed to help you stay protected, whether you are a large company or a small, independent creator. 

What is Copyright

Copyright is just that, a right, and under both domestic & international law, you are entitled to full ownership and control over a creative work at the moment you publish it. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright is “a type of intellectual property (IP) that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression.” 

Copyright exists automatically at the moment you create and fix a work, such as writing a blog article, taking a photograph, or recording a song. Other types of copyright exist, such as works made for hire (for instance, when a company commissions an artist to create a specific work, like a poster or video), and copyright can also be assigned by a creator to another person or organization, through contract assignments, wills, bequests, and other legal instruments.

What Can Be Copyrighted

There are many different kinds of creative works to which copyright law applies, and the list is always expanding. Here are just a few examples:

  • Paintings
  • Photographs
  • Illustrations
  • Musical compositions
  • Sound recordings
  • Computer programs
  • Books
  • Poems
  • Blog posts
  • Movies
  • Architectural works
  • Plays
  • And much more!

When You Should File a Copyright

Although copyright exists automatically in a fixed work, you can take steps to enhance your protection by registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright registration is needed to enforce your copyright through litigation, and allows copyright owners to seek monetary damages and attorney’s fees in the event of a lawsuit. Registration also provides a secondary benefit to the public, by allowing people to find out who owns the copyright to a work, and providing notice that someone is claiming copyright on a particular fixed work.

How a Copyright Attorney Can Help You

By seeking legal advice early in the process, before even publishing a work, you can ensure that your registration is accurate, complete, and defensible in case of an infringement, providing you with the best possible copyright protection. We can also help you to develop a complete intellectual property protection strategy, from initial filing to commercialization and syndication, even international distribution under different global copyright law regimes.

Our Copyright Law Firm Services

At Allen, Dyer, Doppelt + Gilchrist, we help our clients with filing copyright registration applications, as well as other copyright acquisition methods like assignments or bequests. We also pursue litigation against copyright infringers, as well as dispute resolution in the case of contested copyrights.

Copyright Acquisition

Beyond just registering a copyright with the U.S. copyright office, there may be foreign copyright registration concerns with a particular work. There may also be licensing or syndication agreements, other assignments, and work-for-hire contracts. Depending on the age of the work, there may be other fair use or public domain considerations.

Copyright Counseling

If you aren’t sure how to proceed with your copyright issue, our experienced team of copyright lawyers can help. From advising on monetization & syndication rights, to negotiating development deals, licensing agreements, and distribution issues, to clearing marketing and media content from any possible outside copyright infringements, our copyright law firm can assist with any situation related to your IP. 

Copyright Infringement

When it comes to enforcing copyrights and defending against copyright infringement, we have the experience and stand ready to help. As a copyright owner, you are entitled by law to recover statutory damages and attorney’s fees in the case of infringement litigation, if the court rules in your favor, and you are not required to prove any specific monetary loss.

Contact Our Experienced Copyright Attorneys

Our credentialed, qualified, and highly experienced team of Florida copyright attorneys stands ready to assist you with any and all copyright-related issues. We have copyright lawyers on our team who are certified by the Florida Bar Association as experts in intellectual property matters, highlighting our commitment to providing our clients with the highest quality representation. We have offices located in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and Winter Springs.

Get in touch or schedule a consultation today to find out more how we can help protect your copyright and IP rights.

Florida Copyright Law Firm FAQs

We get a lot of questions from people about the copyright process, as well as legal issues related to copyrights. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions:

Examples of things which CANNOT be copyrighted include:

  • Titles, names, short phrases & slogans
  • Familiar symbols or designs
  • Variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring
  • Listings of ingredients or contents

Works created on or after January 1, 1978, have a copyright term of the life of the author plus seventy years after the author’s death. Works made for hire or pseudonymous works have a term of 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Fees for registering a copyright (government fees) vary from $45 at the low end to $500 or more (for registration of works such as marine vessel designs or databases), depending on the nature of the work and of related documentation. The basic government copyright registration costs $45-65 for electronic registration, or $125 for paper filing (not including attorneys fees).

Depending on the product, either a design patent or utility patent may be appropriate, and in some cases both.

During our due diligence phase, we discuss your invention in detail to identify the novel and commercially valuable aspects. We then carefully craft the design or utility patent application to cover these key aspects, and work closely with you to make sure everything is technically accurate and complete. We then submit the patent application to the USPTO, and from there work with the patent examiner assigned to your application once an initial examination is completed. After we reach an agreement with the patent examiner on allowable subject matter, a notice of allowance will be issued and the patent will be formally granted by the USPTO.

The term of a design patent extends 15 years from the issue date. Utility and plant patents have a term of 20 years from the filing date of the underlying application, although in some cases the length of the term can be extended as a result of delays that occur during prosecution at the USPTO.