Federal Copyright Registration Application (U.S. Copyright Office)

Scope of Legal Services: The Gonzalez Law Office, PLLC ("Firm") shall provide flat-fee legal representation for the preparation, counseling, and electronic submission of one (1) federal copyright registration application before the United States Copyright Office ("USCO") for one (1) original work of authorship pursuant to the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.). This flat-fee engagement encompasses the following specific deliverables:

• Subject Matter & Authorship Audit: Legal evaluation of the creative work to assess statutory copyrightability under 17 U.S.C. § 102, determination of the appropriate registration category (e.g., Literary Works, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Sound Recordings, Motion Pictures, or Software/Computer Programs), and analysis of authorship and ownership chain of title—including joint authorship, work-made-for-hire principles under 17 U.S.C. § 101, or statutory transfer/assignment structures.

• Publication & Derivative Work Strategy: Legal counsel regarding the legal classification of the work as published or unpublished, identification of pre-existing third-party or public-domain material requiring statutory limitation of claim (derivative works or compilations), and guidance on statutory benefits under 17 U.S.C. § 412 (timely registration for statutory damages and attorney's fees eligibility).

• Application Preparation & Deposit Copy Review: Review of the mandatory deposit copy(ies) (or identifying material/redacted source code for software) to verify compliance with USCO technical deposit regulations, and electronic preparation and filing of the application via the USCO Electronic Copyright Office ("eCO") or Enterprise Copyright System ("ECS").

• Docketing & Certificate Forwarding: Serving as the Correspondent of Record with the USCO, monitoring the application through formal examination, and forwarding the official Certificate of Registration upon issuance.

Exclusions & Statutory Filing Fees:

• Government Filing Fees Excluded: This flat legal fee covers professional attorney services only and excludes mandatory USCO government filing fees (typically $45.00 USD for a Single Application or $65.00 USD for a Standard Application, or applicable Group Registration fees), which shall be billed separately prior to submission.

• Excluded Post-Filing & Contested Matters: Unless expressly agreed to in a separate written addendum, this flat fee does not include Special Handling (expedited processing) requests, preparation of formal Copyright Assignment or Work-Made-for-Hire agreements, responses to substantive USCO Examiner correspondence or refusals to register, Requests for Reconsideration, DMCA takedown notices, or federal copyright infringement litigation.

• Important Notice & Ethics Disclaimer: Submission of payment via this website does not automatically establish an attorney-client relationship. Any formal representation is strictly contingent upon the Firm’s completion of an internal conflict-of-interest check and the mutual execution of a formal Engagement Agreement. No guarantee or warranty is made regarding the ultimate registration approval of any work by the U.S. Copyright Office.