• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

McCarter & English Logo

  • People
  • Services
  • Insights
  • Our Firm
    • Leadership Team
    • Social Justice
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Pro Bono
    • Client Service Values
  • Join Us
    • Lawyers
    • Summer Associates
    • Patent Professionals
    • Professional Staff
    • Job Openings
  • Locations
    • Boston
    • Philadelphia
    • East Brunswick
    • Stamford
    • Hartford
    • Trenton
    • Newark
    • Washington, DC
    • New York
    • Wilmington
  • Share

Share

Browse Alphabetically:

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • X
  • Y
  • Z
  • All
Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Litigation
Blockchain, Smart Contracts & Digital Currencies
Business Litigation
Cannabis
Coronavirus Resource Center
Corporate
Crisis Management
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Delaware Corporate, LLC & Partnership Law
Design, Fashion & Luxury
E-Discovery & Records Management
Energy & Utilities
Environment & Energy
Financial Institutions
Government Affairs
Government Contracts & Global Trade
Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
Healthcare
Immigration
Impact Investing
Insurance Recovery, Litigation & Counseling
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment Law
Life Sciences
Manufacturing
Products Liability, Mass Torts & Consumer Class Actions
Proptech
Public Finance 
Real Estate
Renewable Energy
Sports & Entertainment
Tax & Employee Benefits 
Technology Transactions
Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain Management
Trusts, Estates & Private Clients 
Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Companies
  • Broadcasts
  • Events
  • News
  • Publications
  • View All Insights
Search By:
Media item displaying Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content
Main image for Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content
Publications|Alert

Like, Comment, Share, and Protect the Copyright of Digital Content

Intellectual Property Alert

8.7.2020

Do you produce and share content through social media or a blog? You may be surprised to know that, until now, little copyright protection was available under U.S. law for digital works. Especially considering the ability to release content frequently through online channels, current copyright law makes it burdensome for creators to protect this type of work. Protecting live tweets during a political debate or in a travel blog documenting a long trip has required a new registration application for every new post—until now, as a new procedure allows group registration for short online literary works.

The U.S. has adopted the international norm of automatic copyright existing for a work as soon as it is set in a medium, including online social media. This is only a baseline protection, however. Importantly, you may not file a copyright infringement lawsuit unless your copyright is registered. Therefore, the U.S. Copyright Office has made an effort to modernize its registration system by permitting group registration of up to 50 online literary works, known as the Group Registration for Short Online Literary Works (GRTX). This work can include poems, short stories, articles, essays, columns, blog entries, or social media posts published on online platforms. Podcasts and other types of non-literary works are excluded.

To be registered using the GRTX process, an eligible group of work must include no more than 50 separate online works that are each between 50 words and 17,500 words. Additionally, all the work must be written by the same person, or co-written by the same group of people, and must have been published online within a three-calendar-month period. Also, because this process seeks to benefit individual writers, registerable works may not be works made for hire (e.g., a work that you’ve hired an outside contractor to write). Other requirements and an explanation for the GRTX application are detailed in the new Circular 67, and there is also a set of frequently asked questions.

This new process indicates that the U.S. Copyright Office is very slowly adjusting to the use of online platforms as the go-to medium for content distribution. It should encourage online content producers to seek copyright registration for their work. This particular process provides social media users, blog authors, and other online content creators an easier and more efficient method to register their works.

More information regarding the GRTX process can be found on a presentation provided by the U.S. Copyright Office.

The lawyers of McCarter & English, LLP, are well versed in copyright and internet laws, and welcome comments and questions from readers.

Contributing author: Argjenta Kaba

sidebar

pdfemail

Related People

Media item: Susan Okin Goldsmith
Susan Okin Goldsmith

Partner

Related Services

Intellectual Property
Subscribe to our Insights
McCarter & English, LLP
Copyright © 2021 McCarter & English, LLP. All Rights Reserved.
  • Login
  • Attorney Advertising
  • Privacy
  • Awards Methodology
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Sitemap

The McCarter & English, LLP website is for informational purposes only. We do not provide legal advice on this website. We can provide legal advice only to our clients in specific inquiries that they address to us. If you are interested in becoming a client, please contact us, but do not send any information about your specific legal question. We cannot serve as your lawyers until we establish an attorney-client relationship, which can occur only after we follow procedures within our firm and after we agree to the terms of the representation.

Accept Cancel