A: Sadly, no. While the very creation of a work, i.e. recording it in any appropriate medium (like writing a story, painting a picture), grants automatic copyright protection, and while by placing the © symbol on a work its creator is stating their claim of copyright ownership, this in itself is not proof. And though the © symbol allows you to give fair notice to the world of your copyright claim (which means infringers can’t use the excuse they didn’t know), what with the potential revenue that can be earned by the correct exploitation of the right intellectual property, some unscrupulous people may remain undeterred by the © symbol.

That being the case, if you had to prosecute an infringer or even defend yourself against someone who claims you’ve breached their copyright there are ways in addition to the © notice that you can help yourself provide evidence you created and own your work:

• Keep previous drafts, notes or preliminary drawings, signed and dated, demonstrating the development of the work from idea through to finished version.
• Keep correspondence (letters, faxes, emails) with and from third parties about the work in question.
• Register your copyright of work with the duly registered™ service, provided duly noted®.

And we still advise our clients to use the copyright © notice. Simply place the copyright © symbol on your work along with the date of its first publication and your name (or the year of creation if it is still unpublished). It is a useful, universally recognised notice of ownership.

A: Let’s answer that question with one of our own: do you trust your postal service? Have they ever mislaid mail you’ve sent or were due to receive, or just plain delivered it to the wrong address? Not only that, do you expect them to keep a record of a special delivery they handled (your manuscript/lyrics/disc) for ten years or longer? In fact, will you be able to keep track of all your self-addressed documents over ten years? And what if you lost your copy of the postal service’s proof of mailing?

Fact is, registering your work on-line – and with an independent third party – is a swifter, more convenient and secure way to establish your link with your work.

And yes, you could post yourself your work. But in the age of re-sealable envelopes, printed pages and re-writable disks, it’s hard to ignore the potential to falsify this old method of proving copyright, so as evidence it may be rejected in a court of law.

A: Banks and law firms are trusted, viable options, sure. However, where duly noted® comes into its own over these institutions is;

• Registration is quick. With our duly registered™ service, no queuing or appointments are necessary, lawyers don’t have to be engaged, their terms negotiated, nor their fees agreed. And you don’t have to explain what it is youre registering. At duly noted®, we know your time is valuable. Registration takes just five minutes, then you’re done!
• We register on-line. No need to wait till your lunch break to charge over to your lawyer or bank to hand over your work. And no sweating whether your package will reach them or not in the post. With duly noted®, you can register from the comfort of your home.
• No lengthy paperwork. How long will it take you to fill in all the forms to obtain your own safe deposit box? With duly noted®, we just need to know who you are, and you’re ready to go!
• We’re open 24/7. We don’t restrict you to the nine to five. If you finish your latest masterpiece at 4am in the morning, can you hand it over to your lawyer or bank for registering there and then? You can at duly noted®. And you can check the status of all your registrations with us any time by accessing your personal Your NOTED! member page.
• Copyright registration is why we’re here. Banks and law firms will have other priorities and duties to take care of. At duly noted®, we understand how valuable you feel your work is, and will treat it accordingly.
• We’re cheaper. And you can’t say fairer than that!

You need a registration service that works to your priorities and your schedule. That’s why you need duly noted®'s duly registered™ service.

A: There are two reasons:

Firstly, because we’re neutral. Fact is, you could well get your family or friends to vouch for you in the case of an infringement. And though their evidence would be truthful, it may be argued in court that they’d naturally back you up regardless, and their evidence could consequently be called into question. However, because at duly noted® we don’t know you, have no ties with you, so have no vested interest in supporting your position, that means we will simply provide the facts.

Second and most importantly, were you to get involved in a copyright dispute, lawyers for the infringing party will likely attempt to discredit any evidence you submit, claiming that you may have simply altered your work after the fact in order to make a claim of infringement. It is vital then you can establish just when your work was created. And the secure, on-line nature of the duly noted® registration process does just that; any file you upload to us you cannot alter. Thereafter, should you then make a claim of copyright breach, the information we give – that on the date your work was registered with us it was in your possession and in a certain state, backed up by the original uploaded file itself – will be just that evidence you need.

Third party registration is about providing unbiased, verifiable evidence, and that’s what duly noted® does.

A: Fortunately, no. Copyright is a well-established, automatic, internationally recognised right. And while no one international convention guarantees copyright protection throughout the entire world, established agreements like the Berne Convention (1886), the Universal Copyright Convention (1952), and The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) (1994), have nigh-on a hundred and eighty signatory states between them.

These agreements mean that participating states must grant the same minimum standards of protection they offer to copyright owners within their own borders, to the copyright owners of other participating nations. Consequently, a copyright registration of your work in your or another country should be recognised as evidence of ownership elsewhere, meaning you should not need to repeat the registration process.

However, certain countries do have a formal, government-run registration process. The United States of America for example (while belonging to the Berne Convention) is one such country, and US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens are required to register their work with the US Copyright Office – run by the United States Library of Congress – in order to facilitate proof of copyright ownership as well as to file claims in the US courts in the event of infringement. While we recommend that US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens do this (in fact we feel it prudent to suggest to all our clients who wish to sell their copyrighted work in the US market to consider also registering with the LoC), there are advantages to also making use of duly noted®:

Registration with duly noted® is immediate, whereas the Library of Congress can take months to process your application. And until you get confirmation of registration from the LoC, at least in the meantime you still have independent, third party evidence of registration. Your duly noted® registration can also be supporting evidence of your ownership in the international arena.

Not sure if your country is a Berne Convention member? No problem. Follow this link to our Copyright Treaties page to find out. And if you need to check your own countrys copyright protocols, our Resources Page also lists government run intellectual property and patent offices by country.

A: It’s easy! Just complete the on-line form about you and your work, select for uploading the matching file of your work you wish registered, fill in your payment information, and submit. It couldn’t be simpler, quicker, or more convenient.

Just follow this link to our Register Now page.

We suggest you read our terms and conditions prior to registering.

PLEASE NOTE: Passwords: When you register, you’ll be asked to provide a password specific to the work you’re registering. You must keep this password safe, as you’ll need to quote it in correspondence in the event you have to claim a copyright infringement and we need to retrieve your document. See Question 8 in our Miscellaneous Questions section; “What will you do if Im involved in a copyright dispute?” for more details.

A: Of course! As copyright is an internationally recognised right, we can accept registrations from clients outside the UK.

We refer US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens to the answer to question 4 however, which has important information relating to their registering work in the United States.

A: Immediately you submit it. Once you see the NOTED! confirmation stamp at the end of registration, it means the process is complete, your payment has been accepted, and your work is registered with us. You’ll also receive emails confirming your registration has been processed. See Question 13 for more details.

A: Our standard rates, our bundles rates for various creative types, as well as our registration retrieval rate can be found on our Rates Page.

A: No problem! Our standard Registration servicea allows our clients to register multiple works at one time. When uploading your chosen file during registration, you’ll be given the option to upload another. Just select that option, and you go through the registration process for your next document. You can repeat this as often as you need before going on to the payment screen to complete registration of your works.

Our Creative Types Registration Bundles also gives you that option - and at EVEN BETTER VALUE. See our Rates Page for more details.

A: The term is ten (10) years. And yes, this term is renewable.

A: Sure, as long as you are one of the creators of that work. Our registration service allows for inputting details of more than one creator, and they will be listed with you in our database and on the registration certificate.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the purposes of registering songs poetry and blogs, where multiples of these can be uploaded and identified in one registration, it is important that the creators named be the same for all works registered. Works authored with different collaborators must be registered separately. This is so that in the event of a copyright breach only the registration (and the work) relating to the creators involved has to be duplicated for submission as evidence, so avoiding duplicating the registration of unrelated creators (and consequently breaching their copyright!).

A: Within a few minutes of seeing the NOTED! confirmation stamp at the end of registration, you will be automatically emailed a registration number unique to your work along with details about the work registered as recorded by you, and an official duly noted® registration certificate. Print your certificate, and keep it, your member number and login, and your unique registration password safe. Next, place the registration number somewhere prominent on your work. We propose the following text; “This work is duly noted® Ltd. copyright registered, No: (insert registration number here)”.

Your work and details of its registration will be stored at duly noted® until such time as it may be required in a copyright dispute. Only the work’s creator(s) can access information duly noted® has relating to the creator’s registered work. Requests for access can be made via the client’s email address they have logged in the company’s records, or in the form of a notarised letter.

A: No problem! You can retrieve duplicates of your certificate at any time by accessing your personal Your NOTED! member’s page. This will show you details of all your registered works and against each will be a “View Details” link. Click on that, let the screen refresh, and with the information about your registration there’ll be a “Download This Certificate” link. With that you can re-download and re-print your certificate. Simple!!

PLEASE NOTE: You are not able to access your original work, so it is important you keep a duplicate for back-up purposes.  If you wish, you can make use of our GemProtect™ data back-up and storage service, by visiting our duly saved site.  Initial subscription is FREE.

A: No. The reason for this is that, in a dispute, the fact that another person rather than the author registered the work could undermine the validity of that registration. This is also why we advise our clients to use only their legal names when registering their works.

Please refer to 11.4 of our terms & conditions.

A: Any work that is original, to which you own the copyright, and falls under copyright protection.

Copyrightable works: This can include (but is not limited to) short stories, artwork, novels, photographs, poetry, lyrics, plays – be they for film, TV, theatre or radio – cartoons, designs, program code and web pages.

Synopses and treatments can also be included, along with TV show formats and programme ideas. Be advised however that, as an idea by its very nature is vague in comparison to a completed manuscript, and consequently can be more difficult to establish copyright ownership, we recommend you develop your idea as fully as you can (including e.g. character development, the story arc(s) of the series, sample episode synopses – if not complete episodes too).

Formats: We accept any computer file.

Non-copyrightable works: Certain works do not fall under the protection of copyright law, so consequently would not be suitable for copyright registration. The following, though not protected by copyright, can however be protected by patents; concepts, inventions, designs, methods or processes, plant strains. And these other works can be protected by trademarks; phrases or slogans, names & titles (see Question 18 of this section), logos, colours, fragrances.

If you’re not sure whether your work is copyrightable or not, please consult an intellectual property lawyer. In the event you have no lawyer, follow this link to our Legal Advice Page.

A: No. Names and titles do not fall under copyright protection. And a complete copy of your work, not just its name, must be submitted for registration of that work to take effect.

However certain items such as company or personal logos can be submitted, as, though they do contain a name, the combination of this with artwork which is covered by copyright can make a logo a copyrighted work, and therefore suitable for registration and even trade marking. Prior registration in these cases would be vital if you discovered a rival company/individual is copying your brand, or attempting to pass themselves off as you or your company.

If you require more detailed info about trade marks, and whether your company name or branding can be trade marked, your Patent Office can help. Contact details for a number of international patent offices can be found here

A: Upon the expiration of your registration term, duly noted® will dispose of all information and data relating to your work. This will include destruction and deletion of your files and records.

A: Yes, you can cancel at any time in the form of notarised letter or by email from your address logged in the company records. In the case where more than one person is the creator of a work, cancellation must come from all parties involved in the form of notarised letter(s).

Upon receipt of a cancellation notice, duly noted® will dispose of all information and data relating to your work(s). This will include destruction and deletion of your files and records.

PLEASE NOTE: Cancellation of your duly noted® registration will mean duly noted® cannot provide its service to you as an independent third party in the case of a dispute.

A: The document file size limit per copyright registration is a helpful 100 Megabytes.

A: No, we don’t. In fact, we can’t – unless you have a copyright dispute. In that event we will have to access the original uploaded file to forward a copy to you, along with the data relating to its registration, for you to submit as evidence for your case. And we can only access your registered work when you provide us with the unique password you gave it when you first registered it. So you must ensure you keep that password safe, as we won’t have a record of it. Please refer to Question 27, “What will you do if I’m involved in a copyright dispute?” for more details about document retrieval.

A: Yes. We have endeavoured to ensure the security of the duly noted® and its duly registered™ site so you can have confidence your files are registered and stored as securely as you would hope them to be.  

A: At duly noted®, we want you to be confident you’re just as safe paying for our services as you’ll be using them. So we use WorldPay; a well established and competitive online payment and merchant banking service, to handle our transactions. Payments from our clients go through their secured servers, using their security measures, so that your transaction info remains safe.

A: No. Remember, the intention behind registration is so you are able to verify the date your original work existed and was in your possession. Amending the registered document itself would negate the validity of registration. That’s why we don’t allow access to the original uploaded file and also “fingerprint it” when it’s first registered to ensure it remains unaltered during the time it’s with us.

However, we do recommend registering a new draft of a work you’ve previously registered with us. The advantage of registering a work in its various stages of development is it will help contribute to the “paper trail” evidence that leads your work’s origins back to its copyright owner; you.

We suggest this should be done only after you’ve made major changes to your work. And of course, be sure to include the new draft number in the work title when registering again, for easier reference.

A: Yes. We have a number of ways to help our clients administer their registrations:
·  Registration expiry dates are shown on each client’s Your NOTED! member’s page, next to the work they’ve registered.  
·  Email reminders are sent to our clients before expiry of their registrations and/or subscriptions.  

A: Not the original registered document, no. However, you can make use of our low-cost GemProtect™ data back-up and storage solution for just such an emergency. Access to this service can be found in your personal Your NOTED! member’s page, or through our duly saved™ website.  

A: You will need to notify us in the form of a notarised letter or by email from your email address logged in our company records in your personal Your NOTED! member’s page. In the case where more than one person is the creator of a work, notification must come from all parties involved in the form of notarised letter(s). You’ll also need to provide the unique password that allows us access to your registered file. duly registered™ will then produce the registration data relevant to the work in question, along with a copy of the original uploaded file, and forward it to you to submit as evidence as part of your case.

Registration retrieval carries a charge to cover administration, payable by cheque, and this can be found on Our Rates page.

PLEASE NOTE: We cannot offer legal advice. Please consult your lawyer, or, if you are a member, your union or guild that will likely be able to offer legal advice or point you in the right direction. In the event you have no lawyer, follow this link to our Legal Advice page.

A: Unfortunately, yes. The purpose of registration is to provide evidence for disputes occurring in the future, and can be of no real use after the fact. That’s why it’s important to register your work as soon after completion as possible, and before you start sending it out into the world.

A: Your registration data will remain safe should the unlikely event occur that duly noted® shuts its doors. The company has undertaken to provide contingency measures whereby appointed agents can ensure continuation of its services until completion of our clients’ registration or subscription terms.

A: We can be contacted the following ways:

By post:
duly noted® Ltd
67a Grand Parade
Green Lanes
Haringey
London N4 1DU

By email: info@dulynoted.co.uk

by
phone: +44 (0)845 130 8809
Office hours are 9am to 6pm, Greenwich Mean Time, Monday to Friday

A: Our terms and conditions of service can be found by following this link here, and at the bottom of each page of all our websites.

Remember, if you have any other question regarding our service, you can contact us. We’ll be pleased to help.