I Want to File a Copyright Infringement Claim

Steps one through seven

1. 1

   Select your proceeding type.

   The CCB offers two types of proceedings: a standard proceeding and an even more streamlined smaller claims track designed for cases where $5,000 or less is at stake. In smaller claims proceedings, the information and documents that each party must share with the others are more narrowly tailored to the nature of the proceeding.

   More information is available in the Smaller Claims (PDF, 436 KB) chapter of the CCB Handbook.

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2. 2

   Confirm the claimant.

   In the claim, you will be asked to identify and provide the contact information of the claimant (typically you or your business). The claimant must be the legal or beneficial owner of the copyright.

   To be the legal owner of the copyright, you must be the owner or exclusive licensee of the right you think was infringed at the time of infringement. If you created the work, it's likely you are the author and are (or at least initially were) the copyright owner.

   To be the beneficial owner of the copyright, you must have been a legal owner who has transferred the rights at issue but retains some of the advantages of ownership, such as the right to receive royalties from the use of the work.

   Step 2 compliance tips

   • Establish ownership of each claimant. If you are filing a claim with multiple claimants, you will need to show how each claimant owns the copyright in the work at issue. For example, if only your business owns the copyright in the work, do not list both yourself and your business as claimants.
   • Check your registration certificate. If you are not named as the copyright claimant (owner) of the work on the copyright registration certificate, you must provide specific details or supplemental documents explaining how you own, or have an exclusive license A license is an agreement where the copyright owner allows someone else (a "licensee") to have certain rights in their work. A licensee is exclusive when the copyright owner agrees that they will give those rights only to that licensee. to use, the work(s) at issue.
   • Separate yourself from your business. The claimant is the individual or entity who owns the copyright in the work. Even though you may be the sole owner of your business entity, LLCs and corporations are separate legal entities from the individuals who own them. List your business as a claimant only if you have transferred the copyright to your business or if it was created as a work made for hire A work that has been created by an employee in the scope of their employment, or created (for certain types of works) based on a written agreement commissioning that work and stating that the work should be treated as a work made for hire.

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3. 3

   Identify your respondent.

   A respondent is the person or entity you believe is responsible for the infringement. The respondent must reside in the United States, and you must provide their U.S. mailing address. The respondent cannot be a state or federal governmental entity. You must show or describe how each respondent you list was responsible for the infringement.

   If you don't know the respondent's address, conduct an online search and review any communications you've received. In cases of online infringement, CCB staff attorneys can give you information about obtaining a subpoena A formal legal document that commands a person to appear in court or a legal proceeding to give testimony or produce documents. under United States Code Title 17, section 512(h), which may help you obtain information from an online service provider Online service providers include websites that host content uploaded by users, such as YouTube and Instagram, and search engines that direct users to particular websites, such as Google and Bing. to identify the respondent.

   An attempt to go around this requirement—for example, by selecting Texas as the state, when the respondent is obviously in France, could subject you to a finding that you have acted in bad faith, which can come with certain penalties.

   Step 3 compliance tips

   • You can’t bring a claim against someone who co-owns the copyright with you. A co-owner of a copyright cannot be liable for infringement of that copyright. Each co-owner has an equal right to use and exploit the work unless there is an agreement that says otherwise.
   • You can’t bring a claim against a respondent who had a license to use the copyright when they used it. If you granted someone the right to use the work, you cannot sue them for using the work in the way contemplated by your license/permission to use the work. To learn more about join authorship reference Copyright Registration (Circular 2) (PDF, 121 KB) and the Copyright in Collaboration video (length: 4:34).

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4. 4

   Identify and describe your work.

   The claim form will ask you to describe the type of work at issue and provide the required registration information. You need to identify the work You will select one of the following types of works: Literary, musical, and dramatic works such as fiction or nonfiction stories, poems, textbooks, and computer programs. Sound recordings, such as recorded performances of literary or musical works. Musical works consisting of music and lyrics. The handout Musical Works, Sound Recordings & Copyright explains the difference between a musical work and a sound recording. Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works such as photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, jewelry, maps, charts, and models. Motion pictures and other audiovisual works such as movies, television shows, videogames, webinars, and advertisements.Dramatic works such as plays, musicals, and operas. Pantomimes and choreographic works but not a single dance move, social dance steps (such as ballroom dances, folk dances, line dances) or simple routines. Architectural works but not individual standard building features. or works you believe were infringed and describe the ownership of those works.

   Registration. Before the CCB makes a determination, the work at issue must be registered by the Copyright Office. When you file, you must either

   • provide your work's Copyright Office registration number, or
   • provide the U.S. Copyright Office service request number This is your registration application number. A Service Request number also known as an SR number is an eleven- or twelve-digit number that is a unique identifier assigned to a specific registration application. It always starts with "1-". that shows you have submitted a complete registration application. A complete registration application is an application where the Copyright Office has received your application, deposit copy, and the required registration fee.

   
   

   Need to register your work? To learn more about what works can be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, visit the Office's Copyright Registration Toolkit (PDF, 1,855 KB), Copyright Basics (Circular 1) (PDF, 121 KB), and the Registration webpage.

   Step 4 compliance tips

   • Multiple works? If you are filing a claim involving multiple works, be sure to include information for each work. Even if you have a group registration, you will need to list the works separately in the claim form.

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5. 5

   Describe the infringement.

   Describe which exclusive rights were infringed, how the respondent could have seen or heard your work in advance of creating their work, and how the expression in the respondent's work is similar to the expression (not just the ideas) in yours. The more details you provide in your claim, the better.

   Which exclusive rights were infringed? Exclusive rights The exclusive rights are: the right to make copies of the work (examples: making photocopies, producing a series of prints); the right to prepare other works based on the work, called derivative works (examples: movie adaptations, cover songs, prequels or sequels, translations [such as translating a book from English to Chinese]); the right to distribute copies of the work (examples: distributing copies of a book to a bookstore, offering downloads of movies); the right to publicly perform the work (examples: a theatrical performance of a play, a band playing a song, streaming a movie online) (NOTE: Sound recordings have a limited right to public performances, but only by means of a digital audio transmission); and the right to publicly display the work (examples: a gallery exhibiting a painting, a website posting a photograph.) are the rights given to the copyright owner by law. Someone who participates in one of those activities without the copyright owner's permission may be infringing the copyright, unless they have a legitimate defense. You'll need to describe how respondent's activities infringed one or more of your exclusive rights.

   When did the respondent infringe your work? To the best of your knowledge, you will need to identify when the infringement occurred and whether it is ongoing. Remember, you need to file your claim within three years of the infringement or when you should have reasonably discovered the infringement. If the infringement is older than three years and you discovered it only in the past three years, you should note that and explain why it was reasonable that you discovered the works only in the last three years.

   Where did the infringement happen? Describe the physical or online place where infringement occurred. If you provide links, take screenshots to preserve what is at those links, and be sure to describe what is at the links or upload the screenshots. Content on websites can change or be taken down, so never rely on the link.

   What happened? Describe the infringement, using enough detail for the Board and respondent to understand your claim. In particular, include

   • how the respondent may have accessed The reasonable opportunity for the respondent to view or hear your work before the alleged infringement took place. Acceptable allegations include how your work was: 1) Sent directly to the respondent or a close associate of the respondent, or 2) Widely disseminated or was reasonably available to the respondent. your work, especially if the respondent did not copy your entire work, and
   • a description of your work and which portions of your expression were taken by the respondent in their work.

   Options for providing this information

   • Give a timeline of the infringement and the respondent's actions in the claim form.
   • Provide a short description of your work in the claim form.
   • Provide a short description of the alleged infringement in the claim form.
   • Upload copies of the work(s) at issue in the claim. You will need to submit your work and respondent's work during the written testimony phase of the proceeding.

   Step 5 compliance tips

   • Tell the whole story. If you are bringing a claim against multiple respondents, be sure to describe what each respondent did to infringe your work.
   • A contract violation is not infringement. If you and the respondent have an agreement and the respondent violated that agreement, you do not have an infringement claim. Only file an infringement claim if the respondent failed to satisfy a condition precedent A "condition precedent" is an act or event that must occur to trigger certain contract obligations. For example, if an author agrees that a licensee may publish their book "if, and only as long as" the licensee makes monthly payments to the author, then the payments may be a "condition precedent" to the licensee's right to publish. If a copyright license depends on the licensee first satisfying a condition precedent, and the licensee does not satisfy it before using the work, then the license is not effective and the licensor may raise a copyright infringement claim. or exceeded the scope of your contract. The classic example is a failure to pay. For example, if you agreed respondent could use your work in exchange for $3,000, and then the respondent didn't pay, you likely have a contract claim for $3,000 that the CCB cannot hear.
   • Keep it to copyright. Limit yourself to the facts relevant to your CCB claims. Do not use your claim form to insult the other side or raise legal issues the CCB cannot hear, such as property or defamation claims.
   • Focus on the similarities to the copyrightable expression in your work. A valid copyright extends only to copyrightable subject matter, and copyright law protects only the components of a work that are original to the author. Copyright does not protect names, titles, short phrases, or slogans (PDF, 113 KB). It also does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. Make sure that the similarities you highlight are covered by your registration.
   • Clearly label your supplemental documents. By clearly labelling the supplemental documents, they can be properly compared to each other, in particular copies of your work and the allegedly infringing work.

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6. 6

   Describe the harm you suffered and consider your potential damages.

   You should describe any harm you suffered because of the respondent's actions. You may choose to seek either (1) actual damages (damages awarded based on the proven harm or loss suffered by you) or (2) statutory damages (damages awarded within a set range). This decision does not have to be made at the time of filing the claim. Regardless of the type of damages you claim

   • the CCB cannot factor into its awards whether the infringement was committed willfully or intentionally;
   • the CCB cannot award damages of more than $30,000; and
   • most awards are substantially less than that amount.

   
   

   The range of statutory damages available depends on when the work in question was registered.

   Statutory damages caps

   Four statutory damage caps based on the timing of the copyright registration.

   If the copyright was registered within three months of first publication of your work or before the infringement started	If the copyright was registered more than three months after publication and after the infringement started
   $750 to $15,000 per infringed work No more than $30,000 per proceeding	$750 to $7,500 per infringed work No more than $15,000 per proceeding

   The Board's determinations are public. You may want to review the Board's final determinations before you begin to see how the Board awards damages and reaches its decisions.

   More information is available in the Damages (PDF, 381 KB) chapter of the CCB Handbook.

   Step 6 compliance tips

   • Injunctions. Unlike federal court, the CCB cannot order the respondent to stop or modify activities unless the respondent notifies the CCB that, if found liable for infringement, they will stop or modify the activity. If an injunction to order the respondent to stop infringing activity is of primary importance to you, you may want to consider federal court instead.
   • Remember the damages caps. You should not ask for more than $30,000 total or more than the statutory maximums per work infringed or you may be told that your claim needs to be fixed to correct that error.

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7. 7

   Attach relevant documents to your claim.

   Attaching documents along with the claim can help to show the respondent and the CCB that you have important evidence in support of your claim. If you do not submit these documents now, you will need to provide various relevant documents when the proceeding moves to the next phase, so be sure to save these documents.

   Documentation you may want to include

   You may want to include:

   • copies of your work,
   • copies of the alleged infringement,
   • a copy of your registration,
   • any takedown notice or counter-notices sent to an online service provider, and
   • communications with the respondent.