How it all works

Functionality Overview Of The Copyright Registry

How It Works For Users (Finding Owners)

1. Register at C-Registry.us
The registry requires registration. (Register)

2. Choose a method of selecting content file(s) to identify
There are four options to select and check a web page or one file, online or offline.
- Place a bookmark in your browser from C-Tools (C-Tools)
- Enter a URL path to the web page that contains the content file(s)
- Enter a URL path to the content file itself
- Use the direct upload tool from C-Tools to select a file on your hard drive (Desktop Upload)

3. Click the action button to initiate upload of the URL path for the file(s)
Several key functions occur at this moment. By using fingerprinting and pattern recognition "on the fly", it enables retroactive analysis of all pre-existing files on the Internet.
- A unique ID number is derived from the 1's and 0's of the binary file code, which is used for exact match comparisons to other files ("Fingerprinting")
- File patterns, such as histograms, are evaluated and saved ("Image Recognition" or "Pattern Recognition")
- If file is an image, the author, copyright notice and title are extracted and saved if present in the file ("IPTC")
- The URL location of the file is saved
- The URL of the web page on which the file is displayed
- The date the file is found at this location

4. Choose from the file list by clicking the image icon
The list view displays a quick summary of author, copyright notice and title, if available, five files per page with page links at the bottom

5. Display details of matching file(s)
Related text information is displayed for this file based on fingerprinting. If the owner is unknown, pattern recognition will suggest the owners of similar files. Users can navigate between similar files via the "flip chart" to see details for each, which may include a link to the U.S. Copyright registration record and an ecommerce link for licensing (as provided by the rights holder).

How It Works For Copyright Holders (Single & Bulk Data Entry)

1. Register at C-Registry.us
The registry requires registration. (Register)

2. Choose a method of selecting content file(s) to reclaim
There are five options to select web page, bulk files or one file, online or offline.
- Export data in the proper order as a CSV file and use bulk upload (Bulk Upload - Recommended)
- Place a bookmark in your browser from C-Tools (C-Tools)
- Enter a URL path to the web page that contains the content file(s)
- Enter a URL path to the content file itself
- Use the direct upload tool from C-Tools to select a file on your hard drive (Desktop Upload)

3. Initiate the action
Same as checking ownership (above), except for bulk uploads

4. Choose from the file list by clicking the image icon
Same as checking ownership (above), except for bulk uploads

5. Enter information
Claim the record and add info and links per record, except for bulk uploads where all info is included in the comma-separated value (CSV) export file with this information:
- Image Location (URL)
- Web Page Location (URL)
- E-Commerce Link (URL)
- Creator's Name
- Copyright Owner's Name
- U.S.Copyright Registration Number
- Title Of The Work

How It Works To Gather Data (Ingestion Methods)

1. User inquiries add content data
Every action adds data to the database if it's not already there

2. Bulk exports
In chunks of about 1 million URLs per text export, this is the fastest and easiest way to monitor and protect content in the registry

3. Spidering
Our web crawler is seeking new content data to add 24/7, targeting inclusion based on keywords, region, file size, specific domain name, media type and/or other criteria. (Although C-Registry works for video, music and other file types, we are concentrating initially on images because there are far more images in use online than for any other media type).