To sue someone for copyright infringement, you first register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office, then file a complaint in federal district court within three years of discovering the infringement, serve the defendant, and move through discovery toward a settlement or trial. Copyright cases cannot be filed in state court, and the registration step is not optional: without a completed registration, the courthouse door is closed to you.
Register the Work Before You File
Federal law bars you from filing a copyright infringement lawsuit until the Copyright Office has acted on your application. Submitting the paperwork is not enough. The Supreme Court held in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC that “registration” means the office has either granted or refused your application.1Supreme Court of the United States. Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC If the office refuses, you can still sue, but you must serve a copy of the complaint on the Register of Copyrights.
Registration currently runs $45 online for a single work by one author not made for hire, $65 for the standard online application, or $125 on paper.2U.S. Copyright Office. Fees Processing averages about two months for straightforward online filings, with paper applications taking four months or longer.3U.S. Copyright Office. Registration Processing Times Special handling, for an added fee, can compress that to days.
When you register matters as much as whether you register. Register before the infringement begins, or within three months of first publishing the work, and you can pursue statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Miss that window, and you are limited to actual losses and the infringer’s profits, which are far harder to prove.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 US Code 412 – Registration as Prerequisite to Certain Remedies for Infringement This is the single most consequential decision in a copyright dispute, and most of it is made before anyone infringes anything.
File Within Three Years of Discovery
You have three years to file after your claim accrues.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 507 – Limitations on Actions Most federal courts start the clock when you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the infringement, not when it actually occurred. That matters when infringement happens out of view, like a quiet unauthorized license or an obscure online repost.
A timely filing is powerful. In Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, the Supreme Court held that a copyright owner with a timely claim can recover damages for infringement “no matter when the infringement occurred.”6Supreme Court of the United States. Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy If the infringement stretches back years but you only recently learned of it, your damages window reaches back with your claim.
Gather Your Evidence
Build the file before you file. The sooner you capture evidence, the better, because infringers often pull material down once they realize someone is paying attention.
- Your copyright registration certificate, which proves valid ownership.
- A clean copy of the original work in its best available form: manuscript, high-resolution image, source file, or master recording. The court will compare it directly to the infringing material.
- Evidence of the infringement itself: screenshots with visible URLs and timestamps, archived web pages, purchased copies of infringing products, recordings of unauthorized performances.
- The infringer’s legal name and address. For businesses, this usually means the registered entity name and its agent for service of process, often listed on the state secretary of state’s website.
- Documentation of financial harm: lost sales, licensing fees you would have charged, revenue the infringer earned. Estimates are fine at this stage; discovery fills in the specifics.
File the Complaint in Federal Court
Copyright infringement cases are filed exclusively in U.S. District Court.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 US Code 1338 – Patents, Plant Variety Protection, Copyrights, Mask Works, Designs, Trademarks, and Unfair Competition You file in the district where the defendant or their agent resides or “may be found.”8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 US Code 1400 – Patents and Copyrights, Mask Works, and Designs
The complaint identifies you as the plaintiff and the infringer as the defendant, explains why the court has jurisdiction, and lays out the facts: when you created the work, how you hold the copyright, and exactly what the defendant did. It closes by requesting specific relief, usually money damages and an order stopping the infringing activity.
Filing happens electronically through the court’s CM/ECF system. You or your attorney upload the complaint and pay a $405 filing fee for a new civil action. After the court processes it, a summons issues, commanding the defendant to respond.
Serve the Defendant and Enter Discovery
You cannot hand the papers over yourself. Formal service of process requires a process server or the U.S. Marshals Service to deliver the complaint and summons. Botch the service and the court may dismiss your case.
Once served, the defendant generally has 21 days to respond.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented Most file an answer, admitting or denying each allegation and raising defenses. Some file a motion to dismiss, arguing the case has a fatal legal flaw before any facts are examined.
If the case survives that opening phase, it enters discovery. Both sides exchange documents, answer written questions under oath, and take depositions. Discovery can run months or more than a year, depending on the complexity and volume of evidence. It is also where cases get expensive, and where most of them settle, once each side sees the strength of the other’s position. Trials in copyright cases are relatively rare; when they happen, either side can request a jury.
What You Can Recover
Three forms of monetary relief and one non-monetary remedy are on the table.
Actual damages and the infringer’s profits. You can recover financial losses caused by the infringement, plus any profits the infringer earned from the unauthorized use that are not already reflected in your losses. Proving these numbers usually takes detailed financial records and often expert testimony tying the infringement to lost revenue.
Statutory damages. As an alternative to proving actual losses, you can elect statutory damages any time before final judgment. Courts can award between $750 and $30,000 per work infringed. Willful infringement raises the ceiling to $150,000 per work; an infringer who proves they had no reason to know their conduct was infringing can drop the floor to $200.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits Statutory damages are only available with a timely registration.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 US Code 412 – Registration as Prerequisite to Certain Remedies for Infringement
Injunctions. A court can order the infringer to stop using your work, temporarily early in the case or permanently as part of the final judgment.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 US Code 502 – Remedies for Infringement: Injunctions For many copyright holders, stopping the use matters more than the money.
Attorney’s fees. The court has discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party, plaintiff or defendant.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 US Code 505 – Remedies for Infringement: Costs and Attorneys Fees As with statutory damages, timely registration is the gatekeeper. The two together shift the economics of the case: a defendant facing both has a strong incentive to settle.
Expect a Fair Use Defense
Most defendants raise fair use. Federal law lets someone use copyrighted material without permission in certain circumstances, and courts weigh four factors to decide: the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is commercial or transformative; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount used relative to the whole; and the effect on the market for the original.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 107 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use No single factor controls, and the analysis is genuinely unpredictable. That unpredictability is one reason so many copyright cases settle: neither side wants a judge or jury making a judgment call on their most valuable asset.
Weigh the Cost Against the Recovery
The $405 filing fee is the smallest expense you will face. Copyright litigation involves specialized attorneys, extensive discovery, and often expert witnesses. Cases that settle early may run into the low tens of thousands in legal fees. Cases that go through full discovery and trial can cost hundreds of thousands, and industry surveys have put the average cost of taking a high-value copyright case through trial at over a million dollars per side.
If your provable damages are modest, federal litigation may not pencil out even with a strong case. Two cheaper routes exist. A DMCA takedown notice to an online platform will remove infringing material quickly but gets you no money and does not stop reposting. A cease and desist letter sometimes ends the dispute on its own, and if it does not, the infringer’s continued use after receiving it can support a finding of willful infringement, pushing statutory damages toward the $150,000 ceiling.
For smaller disputes, the Copyright Claims Board offers a streamlined tribunal inside the Copyright Office. Total recovery is capped at $30,000, with statutory damages limited to $15,000 per work for timely registered works or $7,500 for works not timely registered.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 1504 – Permissible Claims, Counterclaims, and Defenses Participation is voluntary: the defendant has 60 days after a claim is filed to opt out without giving a reason, and if they do, federal court is your only remaining option.15U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright Claims Board Handbook – Opting Out
Many copyright attorneys will take strong cases on contingency or hybrid fee arrangements, but those arrangements almost always depend on a timely registration that unlocks statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Register early, document everything, and the law’s strongest remedies stay available to you.