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Using the Services of the Copyright Clearance Center to Manage IP Use

In the United States, the Copyright Clearance Center is the largest broker of copyrighted works, with nearly two million works represented.  They provide the valuable service of allowing you to not only look up and pay for the use of works that are already copyrighted, but also to check on existing copyrights and patents.

The Copyright Clearance Center was formed in 1978 to make it easier for people to look up materials that were already under copyright and patent protection.  Since that time, is has functioned as a clearning house and intermediary between copyright and patent holders (though only very few specific and unusual patents) that is credited with allowing these intellectual property (IP) holders to be that much more likely to be credited or paid.

As a participant in the information economy, it is critical to your business that you check on copyright and patent ownership before you publish or release anything that could be construed as infringement.  In the United Sates, the  Copyright Clearance Center serves as a one-stop-shop for those who want to check and see if something has already been done before.

Though many people blame the internet for making copyright and patent piracy that much easier, it has also make it far easier to check on the status of copyrights and patents.  The  Copyright Clearance Center runs a website that allows extensive searching.  You may even handle the transactions to use a copyrighted material from the website, without ever having to contact the actual copyright holders themselves.  Indeed, a single shopping cart can be loaded up with a whole bevy of IPs at a time.

It is, however, important that you remember to the terms you agree to use the material under copyright and patent.  The  Copyright Clearance Center provides detailed instructions for each and every IP they represent, conveying the wishes of the creators as to how their material may be used.  Some copyrights and patents have very liberal regulations while others are quite strict.  It is up to you to make sure you abide by the terms you agree to when contracting for the use of copyrights and patents represented by the Copyright Clearance Center.

Using copyright and patent registry services such as that pioneered by the Copyright Clearance Center are very often recommended by copyright and patent attorneys because they can save so much time and effort that can be wasted on developing an idea that has already been registered.