Step 01 Week 1
Free consultation
We learn about the work — what it is, when it was created, who contributed, and whether it has been published. You get a clear scope and an honest estimate.
Copyright
Your creative work is your property.
Copyright grants its creator the exclusive legal right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or adapt their work, while strictly prohibiting others from copying those specific expressions. While copyright protection is automatic the moment a work is created, registering your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office provides critical legal and financial benefits and unlocks the remedies that make that protection enforceable. It establishes public ownership, serves as a prerequisite for suing infringers, and allows you to seek higher monetary damages in court and your attorney's fees. FinchMark handles registration, licensing, takedowns, and litigation so you can keep creating.
What to expect
The copyright process, start to finish.
Most U.S. Copyright Office registrations issue within 3–9 months of filing. Your statutory rights, however, take effect on the filing date. Here is how we move a work from creation to certificate.
Step 02 Weeks 1–2
Work identification & deposit prep
We confirm authorship, work-for-hire status, ownership chain, and the right registration category (literary, musical, visual, software, audiovisual), and prepare the required deposit copies.
Step 03 Week 2
Application filing
We file with the U.S. Copyright Office. Your effective registration date is the day of filing — important for statutory damages eligibility.
Step 04 Months 1–8
Copyright Office examination
An examiner reviews the application and deposit. We track the docket and flag anything that needs your attention.
Step 05 As needed
Correspondence (if needed)
If the examiner asks a question or requests a clarification, we respond promptly with the legal and factual support to keep the application on track.
Step 06 Months 3–9
Certificate issued
You receive your certificate of registration — prima facie evidence of validity, the prerequisite for federal-court litigation, and the gateway to statutory damages and attorney's fees.
Step 07 Ongoing
Ongoing enforcement
DMCA takedowns, cease-and-desist letters, licensing, and (when needed) infringement litigation — leveraging the registration you now hold.
Copyright Registration
We prepare and file applications with the U.S. Copyright Office for literary works, music, software, photography, visual art, audiovisual works, and architectural designs — securing the statutory damages and attorney's-fees eligibility that only registration provides.
Licensing & Assignments
Work-for-hire agreements, exclusive and non-exclusive licenses, assignment of rights, and termination-of-transfer planning under Sections 203 and 304 — drafted to keep the value of your work where it belongs.
DMCA Takedowns & Counter-Notices
When your work is reposted, scraped, or pirated, we issue DMCA takedown notices to platforms and hosts — and defend wrongful takedowns with proper counter-notices when fair use or licensed reuse is at stake.
Infringement Enforcement
Cease-and-desist letters, settlement negotiation, and federal copyright infringement litigation. Timely registration unlocks statutory damages up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement and your attorney's fees.
Fair Use & Permissions Counsel
Guidance on fair use, public-domain status, quotation, and permissions clearance for authors, publishers, educators, and content creators — before you publish, not after a takedown.
Strategic IP Audits
A coordinated review of the copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets in your business — so the work you commission, the brand you build, and the content you publish are actually owned by the entity that needs to own them.
Why register early.
- Without timely registration you're limited to actual damages and lost profits — usually far less than the cost of proving them.
- Timely registration (within 3 months of publication, or before infringement begins) unlocks statutory damages and attorney's fees.
- Registration is required before filing an infringement lawsuit in federal court.
- A certificate of registration is prima facie evidence of the validity of your copyright.
- Registered works can be recorded with U.S. Customs to block infringing imports.
- The registration record is public notice — useful for licensing, due diligence, and acquisition.
Have a work to protect?
Tell us about it. The first conversation is free.
Keep exploring
Trademarks
Trademark services
Search, federal registration, enforcement, UDRP domain disputes, and licensing.
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DIY trademark strategies
Practical steps to build TM rights and avoid expensive mistakes before registration.
Read moreAbout the firm
Meet Ruth & Marcos
60+ years of family IP experience — boutique counsel from Silver Spring, MD.
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