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Intellectual property and software copyright in Baltimore, Maryland

Written by
ruxandra
June 17th, 2016

Today, most of the information is stored and available on the World Wide Web. Intellectual property and software copyright in Baltimore, Maryland is a crucial protection available for all software publishers. If you are a software developer and you write a program for a computer, an online application, or even a mobile app (for iOS, Android, etc.) you probably want to protect this work from copyright infringement. And if you are ever in need to get copyright protection, you can always contact a copyright lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland to help you to better understand the copyright process.Registration with the U.S. Copyright OfficeYour Baltimore copyright lawyer will tell you that under the American copyright law, you don't have to formally register your creation to get it copyright protected. The instant your software becomes real in a tangible medium (for example when you write it with your fingers), you own the copyright. Your Baltimore copyright attorney can explain to you more about this.But having actual copyright registration will provide a more significant advantage, making you able to prove the date of your creation. The most efficient, easy, and cost effective way to protect your software is for your copyright attorney from Baltimore, Maryland, to register it with the U.S. Copyright Office. The registration procedure is inexpensive and can be done relatively fast if you have all the paperwork done correctly. That is why having a Baltimore copyright attorney gathering all the necessary documents is recommended. A Copyright registration provides actual benefits and is well worth your money and time.Registration permits you to sue infringersIf someone is using your work without your permission, you can stop them by suing them in a federal court with the help of your copyright attorney from Baltimore, Maryland. But to be able to do this, your work has to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.Your Baltimore copyright lawyer will also tell you that if you have to register in a hurry to file a lawsuit, you can pay several extra hundred dollars for expedited registration. In some cases, just by formally registering your work infringers will stop using your software.A Once your work is registered, you can note on the bottom of your page this by adding the A© symbol.It also allows you to demand statutory damagesA more compelling reason to register your softer as soon as possible is that if someone is using your work without your permission, you can ask them for actual damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit. If you have published your work before the infringement started or within 3 months before the work was published, you can also be entitled to recover:

  • Statutory damages, damages of up to $150,000 for each infringement (if you prove the violation was willful.
  • Your attorney's fees as well as all court costs.

For more information about softer copyright, you can contact the best copyright lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland at (443) 569-3950 or chris@annapolisaccidentattorney.com.