In the US, as in the UK, copyright exists in works, such as
literature, songs, software code or designs, from the moment any
such work is created. However, there are various reasons why
copyrights are registered with the US Copyright Office. In the UK,
there is no equivalent registration scheme.
Reasons for registering copyright in the US are various. If you
wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a US work, registration
is required. Many choose to register their works simply to have the
fact of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate
of registration. Also, registered works may be eligible for
statutory damages and lawyers’ fees in successful litigation.
The case decided yesterday was a contest over ownership of
unregistered copyrights between Silicon Valley Bank, which held a
security interest in the copyrights from the original owners, and
Aerocon Engineering, a company that bought the same copyrights from
the bankruptcy estate of the owners. The copyrights were in designs
for aeroplane modifications.
Aerocon argued that its claim to the copyrights ranked above
that of the bank because, in the absence of registration, the
copyrights were not “perfected” according to the relevant law. The
court disagreed. It wrote:
"Though Congress must have contemplated that
most copyrights would be unregistered, it only provided for
protection of security interests in registered copyrights. There is
no reason to infer from Congress's silence as to unregistered
copyrights an intent to make such copyrights useless as collateral
by preempting state law but not providing any federal priority
scheme for unregistered copyrights. That would amount to a
presumption in favor of federal preemption, but we are required to
presume just the opposite."
