“To promote the progress of science and the useful arts…”
RightsClick will process a single-work copyright registration application on your behalf without requiring a subscription to the RightsClick suite. You can use the form below to provide the information, upload the electronic deposit copy of your work, and pay the processing fee. The RightsClick suite offers a broader range of options, but if you wish to use this portal, the following conditions apply:
- The work must be one of the types available in the drop-down menu below.
- You must be the sole author of the work and sole copyright claimant.
- The work submitted must be entirely your own, new work (no Limit of Claim.)
- As the author, you are a human (i.e., not a business entity).
- You will not submit the application anonymously or under a pseudonym.
- The Copyright Office will contact you, if they have any questions regarding your application.
- You are also the contact for parties who may wish to obtain rights to use your work.
- You will be the the recipient of the Registration Certificate mailed by the Copyright Office.
- You agree to the RightsClick Terms of Service.
Before you proceed, please review the file types allowed by the Copyright Office for deposit copy submission. ALSO — if the work you wish to register is an applied art like a sculpture or jewelry design, or a one-of-a-kind painting, please see instructions below about submitting deposit copies for these types of works.
NOTE TO MUSIC CREATORS: Please select the correct drop-down item to indicate whether you are registering just the composition (song) or the recording & the composition. See below for more detail.
Because it’s your work.
Submitting Deposit Copies for Applied Arts & One-of-a-Kind Works
You may register works like jewelry, sculpture, paintings, and applied arts by sending photographs of the work. But it may be advisable to submit more than one photo of the same work (e.g., showing all sides of a sculpture) to ensure that the registration encompasses the entire work. Please combine all the images that show one work into a single PDF document and upload this as your deposit copy.
More Detail About Music Registration
Copyright law treats the sheet music/composition and the recording of a performance as two different copyrightable works — Musical Works and Sound Recordings, respectively. On this form, you can select two types of registration: Musical Composition or Recording & Musical Composition.
If you want to register only the Sound Recording, you need to use the full-service RightsClick app because the Copyright Office rules are a bit more complicated.
If you are the writer of the music and want to submit an application for only the song/composition, select “Music Composition” in the drop-down and submit either a copy of the sheet music OR a recording of a performance of the piece.
If you are both the songwriter AND the performer/recording artist and you want to register BOTH your musical work AND your recorded performance of the song, select “Recording & Music Composition” and submit the sound file to cover both works.
Yes, you may email us your copyright question, and we’ll do our best to answer, but RightsClick is not your attorney, and it does not provide legal advice.