Copyright and WGA Registration Information for Screenplays...

Don't let your procrastination sneak up and bite you... after completing a script do three things (simultaneously if possible):

(click the brads to learn how this is done)

Send a registered copy to yourself via U.S. mail and file it away. Be sure to ask the Postal employee to date stamp the seal of the envelope. Hopefully, you'll never have to open it in court.

You should register a copy of your screenplay with the WGA. Doing so will provide a record of the approximate completion date of your script. Why do you need this? If your unsold but heavily shopped around script ends up on the big screen two years from now and you're convinced that you've been robbed, you'll need to prove in court.

Treatments, synopses, outlines and written ideas are also registerable. Here's what you do:

The mailing address is: WGAw Registration, 7000 West Third Street, L.A., CA 90048

You'll receive notice of registration via U.S. Mail usually within 4 weeks, often sooner. Registration of your material with the WGA does not take the place of copyright. For your benefit, you should register your script with the U.S. Copyright Office as well.

Copyright protection exists as soon as you have created your work in a tangible form (except in case of works made for hire, then the employer - not the writer, is presumptively considered the author). Because your copyright in the work is immediate, it is not required that you secure copyright through any other action. Copyright registration is a legal formality that will make your copyright claim a matter of public record.

There are many advantages to registration of your copyright claim with the U.S. Copyright Office. Here a few of them:

If you register your work within 3 months after publication or prior to an infringement, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to you in court actions. Otherwise, you'll only be awarded actual damages and profits. All this, of course, would only happen if you successfully prove your copyright infringement claim.

Note: Publication is defined by The Copyright Act as "...the distribution of copies of phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display constitutes publication..."

Prior to March 1, 1989, notice of copyright was mandatory on all published works. Without such notice, there was risk that the copyright owner would lose copyright protection. Now, the use of the copyright notice is not required, but its use is highly recommended by the U.S. Copyright Office. Why?

It informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the owner of the copyright, and the date.

If the your work is infringed, and it carries proper notice, "innocent infringement" will be more difficult to claim on part of the defendant.

PROPER NOTICE

The letter C in a circle, or the word "Copyright," or the abbreviation "Copr.";

The year of first publication (see note on publication in About Copyright);

The name of the owner of copyright

Send these three things in the same package:

A properly completed application form. Form PA must be used for collaborative work, "work made for hire", and work that has been previously published or registered. Short Form PA is available for works that do not fall into any of the categories mentioned above.

Ask for book rate when you mail your material to: Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

Note: Once I sent two scripts, two applications, and two checks in the same package. DON'T DO THIS. They lost one of my checks, so I sent another check, a copy of the script, another application, and a letter of explanation. Then things really got messy!

The Library of Congress ended up calling me and an investigator was assigned to straighten everything out. Once she took over, the matter was resolved within a day (and I was granted the original date of my first registration). But this whole process took about 7 months to resolve.