Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Georgia
Copyright Law
If a company produces a document but does NOT file with the Lib of Cong for a copyright for 5 months and before the copyright is filed someone posts the info online (but makes no money doing it-just posts it for others to read) is the poster going to be liable for any damages for having posted the material?
My general impression is that the 'author' or his company would be able to assert that it was their material even if not copyrighted immediately, BUT to recover damages it has to be copyrighted.
Is this correct? Comments please.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Copyright Law
The copyright is created as soon as the work is authored (assuming it is an original work of authorship and qualifies for protection). However, in order to get any real damages in a lawsuit, the copyright would need to be registered. But, the lack of registration does not excuse any pre-registration infringement; the issue becomes whether the infringer was aware of the copyright.
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