Cohan Interviewed for Business Article on Copyrights

David Cohan, a Gentry Locke attorney whose areas of practice include Intellectual Property & Technology and Business Law, was featured in a June 10 article in Valley Business Front magazine.

The article, written by VBFront writer Alison Weaver, discusses the importance of registering a copyright in order to establish ownership of work created for a company. The following is an excerpt of the article:

Unless the creator of the work is your employee, then it's crucial to establish copyright ownership in advance. "One paragraph is all it takes,' Cohan says. ‘Many people think that putting a © on their materials means they're fully protected. They're not."

"In addition to establishing ownership of the work, it's important to register your copyright. If you don't register by filing with the copyright office and you discover an infringer, you lose several significant remedies."

"In theory, registering a copyright appears to be relatively simple and inexpensive--$35 if submitted online to the Electronic Copyright Office. You must also submit a deposit (sample) of the work with the Library of Congress. What you submit varies depending on the type of work and whether it is published or unpublished."