You have several ways to investigate whether a work is under copyright protection and, if so, determine the facts of the copyright. You could examine a copy of the work (or, if the work is a sound recording, examine the disc, tape cartridge, or cassette in which the recorded sound is fixed, or the album cover, sleeve, or container in which the recording is sold) for such elements as a copyright notice, place and date of publication, author, and publisher. You could also make a personal search of the Copyright Office catalogs and other records. Or you could have the Copyright Office make a search for you.

The Copyright Office is located in the Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, D.C. Most records are open to public inspection and searching from 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Friday (except legal holidays). The various records freely available to the public include an extensive card catalog, an automated catalog containing records from 1978 on, record books, and microfilm records of assignments and related documents. Other records, including correspondence files and deposit copies, are not open to the public for searching. However, they may be inspected upon request and payment of a search fee. Log on to www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html for more info.

If you want to search the Copyright Office’s public files yourself, you will be given assistance in locating the records you need and in learning searching procedures. If the Copyright Office staff actually makes the search for you, a search fee will be charged. The search will not be done while you wait.

The Copyright Office is not permitted to give legal advice. If you need information or guidance on matters, such as disputes over the ownership of a copyright, suits against possible infringers, the procedure for getting a work published, or the method of obtaining royalty payments, you might have to consult an attorney.