Copyright registration in Illinois. The Illinois Country was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is now the Midwestern United States. Much of the Illinois Country region became an organized territory of the United States with the establishment of the Northwest Territory in 1787. In 1803, the old Illinois Country area west of the Mississippi was gained by the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase. Since then, Illinois has thrived as a constituent state of the United States of America and is known for being one of the most populated states in the country, and also one of the most multifaceted states. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this area is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Illinois.
Copyright in Illinois
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has registered copyright in advance will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Illinois
Illinois is a part of the United States of America, as one of the 50 states in this country. The United States of America is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1989.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As the USA is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Illinois will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Illinois as well as in the USA is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time attempting to fight copyright issues and prove ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Illinois
To obtain copyright registration in Illinois, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Illinois;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Illinois – USA
Copyright law in the U.S. is governed by federal statute, namely the Copyright Act of 1976.
Although Illinois is a separate state with a separate law system, the federal law in the USA will have more value in moments of conflicts of interest. Therefore, the works created in this state will be protected according to the copyright law of the USA as well as international treaties that the USA is a part of such as the Berne Convention.
You can see a list of Illinois IP firms here.