Has someone been squirrelling with your written content?
Have you spent untold hours of research and editing costs only to find that entire pieces or concepts of your published work suddenly appears (verbatim) in a television series or HBO special?
–If you believe that your copyright has been infringed and you anticipate a legal dispute, if you have not yet done so, it is advisable that a registration be made as soon as possible in order to secure the opportunity for valuable remedies and litigation advantages available for timely registration under the Copyright Act. If a work is registered prior to infringement or within three months of publication, statutory damages will be available as an option for monetary relief, and the recovery for attorney’s fees may be available. In addition, a registration made before or within five years of publication of the work provides a presumption of the validity of the copyright and the facts stated within the registration certificate. A certificate of registration (or a rejection of an application for copyright) is a prerequisite for U.S. authors seeking to initiate a suit for copyright infringement in federal district court.*
If you believe that a criminal infringement of copyright has occurred, you may contact the Intellectual Property (IP) Program of the Financial Institution Fraud Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Two main FBI divisions investigate intellectual property crimes:
Cyber Division -investigates intellectual property crimes involving all digital and electronic works (including Internet, CDs, DVDs, etc) www.fbi.gov/ipr
Financial Institution Fraud Unit – all other intellectual property crimes
There are three ways a complaint made be filed:
- Complainants may contact their local FBI field office, and the complaint will be properly referred.
- A complaint may be filed online at the Internet Crime Complaint Center www.ic3.gov and, again, it will be properly routed.
- Suspected criminal activity of any nature may be reported online at https://tips.fbi.gov and will be routed accordingly.
Other resources:
*http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-infringement.html
Did someone steal “Scenes” or “Orphan Pieces” of your work?
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat032906.html
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