There is a decision point very early pertaining to copyright. Since the author of the dissertation is the owner of the copyright, Proquest ETD wants to know how to process payment of royalties in the event the dissertation is purchased. There are two basic choices:
There are two important areas of interest under this topic:
Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis You should review this document by Proquest ETD for a detailed discussion of these matters.
While it is true that printing your name, a copyright marking, and a date on any page of your dissertation does assert your rights to your intellectual property, you should go further and register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. For a fee that you can pay during the submission process, ProQuest ETD will do this for you (see example below):
By registering for U.S. copyright, you can protect your dissertation or thesis and become immediately eligible for statutory damages and attorney fees. Registering for copyright allows for the claimant to receive statutory damages set out in Title 17, Section 504 of the U.S. Code, which range from $750 - $150,000 USD plus attorney fees per copyright infraction. This contrasts with those who do not register for copyright - authors without copyright registration can claim only actual damages and no attorney fees.
If you elect to have ProQuest ETD submit copyright for your dissertation, they will:
More information about copyright is available via this Copyright Guide.
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