Copyright guides in plain English
Plain-English help
Short guides to protecting what you made.
- How to copyright something you madeWhat a copyright is, what registering it gets you, and the steps to file one with the U.S. Copyright Office.
- Copyright, trademark or patent: which one do you need?Three different protections for three different things. A quick way to tell which one fits what you made.
- Can you copyright something made with AI?What the U.S. Copyright Office will and will not register when AI helped make a work, and what you must tell them.
- Does mailing it to yourself work? The poor man's copyrightMailing a copy of your work to yourself is an old trick. Here is why it does not do what a registration does.
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Answer a few plain questions. Copyright Man picks the right filing and gives you the exact answer for every box. You file it online in minutes.
Start my filing
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Copyright Man is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. We prepare your filing; you file it yourself on the U.S. Copyright Office website. The Copyright Office, not Copyright Man, decides whether to register a work. Fees and rules are set by the U.S. Copyright Office and can change. Its website, copyright.gov, has the current ones.