Copyright in American law requires the filing of the work and its registration with the U.S. Federal Copyright Office. The symbol © is then affixed, followed by the year of publication and the name of the author, producer, or publisher who filed the copyright. Registration is mandatory for American authors. Registration serves as proof of copyright. If registration is completed within three months of the work's creation, the copyright holder is entitled to damages as provided by law and payment of legal fees in the event of a dispute. Registration determines the jurisdiction and establishes the date for calculating any potential compensation. If the author files their registration after the three-month period, their compensation will be reduced.

The ratification of the Berne Convention by the USA in 1989 should theoretically allow a foreign author to assert their rights and initiate legal proceedings for copyright infringement in the USA without having first completed the registration formalities. In practice, the Copyright Act has not been fully amended, meaning that in the event of proven infringement, a foreign author will have their claims dismissed if they have not completed the registration formalities. Numerous companies offer their services to help authors complete the registration process in the USA.

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