Intellectual Property Insights
Analysis and practical guides on intellectual property.
446 articles, checklists, and guides on intellectual property law, written by the attorneys at MC Law. Every piece is general information, not legal advice—for a specific matter, contact the firm.
Your "No Download" Button Is Not Protection: Signed URLs, DRM, and Section 1201
Many sites "protect" paid video by hiding the browser's download button while serving the file from a public link. That stops no one, and it may also forfeit a legal claim. Section 1201 of the Copyright Act prohibits circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work, but only if such a measure exists. This article explains what the statute requires, how courts have treated weak and missing access controls, and the engineering steps that create real protection.
Who Owns Your Videos? Work Made for Hire, Presenters, and Production Crews
A business that pays for a video does not automatically own it. Videos have many contributors (a videographer, an editor, a presenter, sometimes a guest expert who wrote the talk), and each relationship needs paper. This article explains why video is one of the few kinds of commissioned work that can be a work made for hire, why the timing of the signature matters, what presenters and directors do and do not own, and what a production file should contain.
Who Owns the Code Your Developer Wrote? Contractors, Assignments, and Implied Licenses
Paying a developer for code does not make you its owner. Under the Copyright Act, an employee's code belongs to the employer automatically, but a contractor's code belongs to the contractor unless a signed writing says otherwise. This article explains the default rules, why "work made for hire" language usually fails for contract software, what an implied license does and does not give the company that paid, and how to fix a gap before a sale, a financing, or a lawsuit exposes it.
When to Register a Copyright: The Section 412 Deadline and the Three-Month Window
Copyright exists without registration, but the remedies that make a case worth bringing do not. Under 17 U.S.C. § 412, statutory damages and attorney's fees are available only if the work was registered before the infringement began, with one three-month grace period for newly published works. This article explains the rule, the effective date of registration, what "commenced" means for ongoing infringement, and when to file.
Watermarks, Credits, and Metadata: Copyright Management Information Under Section 1202
A watermark, a credit line, or a copyright notice is more than a deterrent. Section 1202 of the Copyright Act makes it unlawful to remove or falsify "copyright management information" knowing that doing so will help conceal infringement, with statutory damages of $2,500 to $25,000 per violation. This article explains what counts as CMI, the two knowledge requirements that decide most cases, and how to mark video, images, documents, and code so the claim is available when you need it.
The 2026 Copyright Office Fee Increase: What Changes and What to File Now
The U.S. Copyright Office sent Congress a new fee schedule on July 14, 2026, its first general increase since 2020. The standard registration fee would rise from $65 to $85, group registrations from $85 to $130, and electronic recordation from $95 to $215. As of November 10, 2026, the Office has not announced an effective date. This article lists the changes that matter most to businesses and creators and what is worth filing before the new fees start.
Someone Cloned My App: What Copyright Does and Does Not Protect
When a competitor ships a look-alike product, the first question is what they actually took. Copyright protects code, text, graphics, and video as written. It does not protect ideas, features, functions, or methods of operation. This article explains where courts draw that line for software, what evidence separates a lawful competitor from an infringer, and which other tools (trade secrets, contracts, trademarks, patents) cover what copyright leaves open.
Registering Software Without Exposing Your Source Code: Deposits, Redaction, and Trade Secrets
Companies often skip registering their software because they assume it means handing the source code to the government. It does not. The Copyright Office accepts a small portion of the code as a deposit and allows trade secret material to be blocked out. This article explains the deposit options for computer programs, how to choose and prepare one, what a registration covers, and how registration and trade secret protection work together.
Is Streaming "Publication"? Why the Answer Changes Your Copyright Registration
The Copyright Office's application asks whether a work is published, and for online works the answer is often unclear. It matters because publication controls which registration options are available, when the statutory damages clock starts, and whether a registration can be attacked later. This article explains the statutory definition, the Copyright Office's position that streaming alone is not publication, how courts have split on works posted online, and how to make and document the call.
How to Protect an Online Course or Membership Site from Copying
A membership site or online course is a bundle of separate assets: software, text, video, images, and a brand. No single filing protects all of it. This guide lays out a six-layer plan in the order that matters (own it, register it, mark it, contract for it, lock it down, and enforce it), with the cost and payoff of each layer and links to detailed articles on every step.
Group Registration of Unpublished Works: Ten Works, One Application
The Copyright Office lets an author register up to ten unpublished works on one application for one fee. Used well, it cuts the cost of registering a library of videos, articles, songs, or software versions by most of the per-work fee, and each work is still treated as separately registered. This article sets out the eligibility rules, the two requirements that trip up companies, how the option compares with a collective-work registration, and how to file.
Copyright Registration of Videos and Online Courses
A video library or online course is not one work. Each video is a separate work, and the way you register the videos affects what you pay the Copyright Office and what you can recover from an infringer. This article explains how to register videos as motion pictures, the three ways to register many videos (one by one, in groups of unpublished works, or as a collective work), the trade-off each one makes, and what to exclude from the claim.