When a competitor lifts your website and you call a lawyer, the first question is "which part?" There is no copyright in "a website." The Copyright Act does not list "website" as a category of protectable work; the Copyright Office will not let you write "website" on the authorship line. A website is a container for works—text, images, audiovisual material, sound, and code—each protected (or not) on its own terms, owned by its own owner, and registered through its own door. The site is just the membrane holding them together.

This checklist is the website-specific overlay on the copyright registration checklist. For the full treatment see copyright registration of websites and website content. Because registration is the ticket into federal court (Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019)) and timely registration unlocks statutory damages and fees (17 U.S.C. § 412), the goal is to register the most valuable, most-copied content on a cadence.

Phase 1 — Audit ownership of every content stream

  • Map every category of content: copy, photos, illustrations, logo, video, audio, code, and user-generated content.
  • Confirm in-house employee content as work made for hire owned by the company (17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 201(b)).
  • Get a signed assignment under 17 U.S.C. § 204(a) from every contractor (designer, photographer, developer) — paying the invoice usually buys a license, not the copyright.
  • For user-generated content, confirm whether your terms of service license or actually transfer the copyright; only an actual transfer lets you register UGC as your own.
  • Fix every ownership gap before registering — you can only register what you own.

Why this matters / traps. The most common surprise is discovering you don't own your own site because a contractor never assigned the design. Independent-contractor work belongs to the contractor unless assigned (Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989)). A website registered as a compilation reaches the underlying works only if the claimant fully owns all of them.

Phase 2 — Classify content as published or unpublished

  • Determine whether each work is published or unpublished under 17 U.S.C. § 101 — publication requires distribution of copies the public is authorized to retain.
  • Treat display-only / streaming-only material, and content whose terms prohibit downloading, as generally unpublished.
  • Treat content behind a "Download" button, or that also exists in tangible copies, as published.
  • Document your reasoning, and align your terms of service with the status you claim.

Why this matters / traps. Publication status drives deposit rules, which group options you can use, and the running of the § 412 clock. "It's on the internet" does not automatically mean "published."

Phase 3 — Register crown-jewel content individually and immediately

  • Identify the most valuable, most-copyable assets (signature photo, most-copied article, key video).
  • Register each on its own application so its § 412 damages clock starts at publication and a federal or Copyright Claims Board claim is always available.
  • File before infringement or within three months of publication.

Why this matters / traps. A dedicated registration for high-value content guarantees the statutory-damages remedy is on the table the day it is stolen, rather than waiting on a batch.

Phase 4 — Batch the rest through the group options

  • Use GRTX (Group Registration of Short Online Literary Works) for 2–50 short text works of 50–17,500 words each, by a single author, first published online within the same calendar year.
  • Use GRUW (Group Registration of Unpublished Works) for up to 10 unpublished works by the same author and owner.
  • Use the group photograph options (up to 750 each — published GRPPH or unpublished GRUPH) for image-heavy sites.
  • Consider the serials/newspapers/newsletters group options only if the site genuinely operates like a periodical.
  • Set a registration cadence (e.g., quarterly photo batches; GRTX filings on a schedule) rather than a one-and-done filing.

Why this matters / traps. The caps are real and the eligibility conditions strict (37 C.F.R. § 202.4; 17 U.S.C. § 408(c)). No single option captures a perpetually evolving, multi-author website — so register on a cadence.

Phase 5 — Register the software and a compilation snapshot

  • Register the site's software separately as a computer program, re-registering major versions as derivative works (see registering a copyright in software checklist).
  • If you fully own everything on a snapshot, register the site as a compilation or collective work, protecting the original selection, coordination, and arrangement plus owned components.
  • Exclude any content you do not own (freelance photos, customer reviews) from the compilation claim, and never claim externally linked content.
  • Treat each materially changed version as a derivative work (17 U.S.C. § 103(b)), claiming only the new material and excluding previously published, registered, public-domain, and third-party material.

Why this matters / traps. A compilation registration protects only the thin selection-and-arrangement layer and reaches the underlying works only if you fully own them. Keep claims accurate — knowing material inaccuracies can jeopardize a registration under 17 U.S.C. § 411(b) (Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., 595 U.S. 178 (2022)).

Phase 6 — Prepare deposits and keep records

  • Deposit the content as it actually appears to users; PDF is the Office's preferred format and a PDF "package" can capture a whole site while preserving navigation.
  • Do NOT submit a live URL or link as a deposit — the Office requires a fixed copy.
  • Match the deposit to your claimed publication date.
  • Register embedded audio/video separately (they may not render in a static capture).
  • Track what you registered, when, and which version, so future derivative-version filings can accurately exclude prior material.

Why this matters / traps. A claim in an entire website does not extend to content that cannot be seen in the deposit. A contemporaneous, dated deposit is also clean evidence of what your site looked like on a given day.

Common mistakes

  • Trying to register "the website" as one thing instead of its components.
  • Assuming you own contractor-built design or code without a written assignment.
  • Treating all online content as "published."
  • Registering a compilation snapshot that includes third-party content you don't own.
  • Submitting a live link instead of a fixed deposit.
  • One-and-done filing for a site that changes constantly.

Primary authority

  • 17 U.S.C. § 102(a) (categories of works); § 101 (publication; compilation; collective work; work made for hire); § 103(b) (derivative works/compilations); § 201 (ownership); § 204(a) (transfers).
  • 17 U.S.C. § 408(c) (group registration); 37 C.F.R. § 202.4 (GRTX, GRUW, group photographs, serials).
  • 17 U.S.C. §§ 410(c), 411(a)–(b), 412 (presumption; registration prerequisite; inaccuracy; remedy timing).
  • Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019); Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., 595 U.S. 178 (2022); Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991).
  • U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium (3d ed.) Ch. 1000; Circular 66; copyright.gov fee schedule.

Related resources

This checklist provides general information and is not legal advice. Copyright Office practices, group caps, and fees change; confirm current requirements at copyright.gov and consult qualified counsel.