How to Copyright Software and Apps

Software is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as a literary work: you file a literary-work application and deposit source code, not the compiled app. Registration covers the code as written and the screens it generates, never the functions, algorithms, or ideas behind it (Circular 61). Each version with new code is a separate work, and specific redaction options let you keep trade secrets out of the public deposit.

Here is how the filing works for programs, mobile apps, games, and web code, and where developers most often get it wrong.

Is software copyrightable?

Yes. The Copyright Office describes a computer program as "a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer to bring about a certain result," and the Copyright Act treats programs as literary works, which is why software registration numbers begin with TX. Copyright protects the expression: the source code you wrote, the comments, the structure of the code where that structure is creative, and copyrightable screen displays the code produces.

It does not protect what the software does. Circular 61 says copyright "does not protect the functional aspects of a computer program, such as the program's algorithms, formatting, functions, logic, or system design," and ideas, methods of operation, and functionality are outside copyright entirely (17 U.S.C. 102(b)); protecting a novel technical process is patent territory, as our copyright vs. trademark vs. patent guide explains. Copyright also will not stop a competitor from writing their own code that performs the same function. What it stops is copying, distributing, and adapting your code, and that is where most real disputes live: a departing developer, a cloned app, a fork that strips your license.

What a software copyright registration covers

• The source code for the specific version you register. Circular 61 is explicit that a registration for a version does not cover previously published code, previously registered code, public-domain code, or third-party code, unless the earlier code was never published or registered and you own all of it.
• Screen displays generated by that code, if the same party owns both. Check "computer program" in the Author Created field and the registration covers the code and any copyrightable screens it generates; you do not have to claim the screens separately or upload screenshots.
• Documentation, if you own it and, when published, it was bundled with the program as a unit. Otherwise a manual is a separate work with its own application.

Two things it does not cover, however good the code: the algorithm, and the name. Protect the name of the app as a trademark; see what can and cannot be copyrighted.

Which application to file

1. Type of work: Literary Work. Computer programs are listed under literary works in eCO. Do not file a program as a visual arts work because it has a UI.
2. Single or Standard. The $45 Single Application is only for one work by one author who is also the sole owner and did not write it as a work made for hire. A solo developer registering their own app qualifies. Code written by employees, by a team, or owned by a company needs the $65 Standard Application; the Office warns that misusing the Single Application means "processing delays, an additional fee, and a later effective date of registration."
3. Author and claimant. Code written by employees within their jobs is a work made for hire and the company is the author. Code from contractors is not, unless assigned in writing; software is not one of the nine commissioned-work categories. Get contractor assignments signed before you name the company as claimant.
4. Limitation of claim. If the version contains earlier published or registered code, open-source libraries, or purchased components, exclude them under Material Excluded and describe the new material you are claiming.

Source code deposit rules

Submit source code for the version you are registering, uploaded through eCO, preferably as a PDF, with the title and version number on the first page. Object code, binaries, or an app-store build are not the standard deposit. For JavaScript and other scripting languages the script itself counts as source, and the Office says copies of on-screen text, buttons, or commands "are not appropriate substitutes."

The default deposit is not the whole codebase. Circular 61 asks for the first 25 pages and the last 25 pages of source code, plus the page containing the copyright notice if there is one. If the program is 50 pages or fewer, submit all of it and say so. If the code has no clear beginning and end, submit 50 pages that reasonably represent the first and last portions.

The deposit becomes part of the public record and can be inspected at the Copyright Office, which is exactly why the trade-secret options exist.

Protecting trade secrets in your deposit

If the source contains trade secrets, tell the Office in writing and use one of Circular 61's options for the version being registered:

• First 10 and last 10 pages, nothing blocked out.
• First 25 and last 25 pages with the trade-secret portions blocked out, as long as what is blocked is less than 50 percent of the deposit.
• First 25 and last 25 pages of object code plus 10 or more consecutive pages of unredacted source code.
• The whole program blocked out under the same 50-percent rule, if the entire code is fewer than 50 pages.

The Office applies these strictly and will refuse a deposit that does not conform: the blocked portions must be proportionately smaller than what remains visible, and the visible code must show "an appreciable amount of copyrightable expression." If you insist on depositing object code alone, the Office will register the claim only under its Rule of Doubt, which puts interested parties on notice that it made no judgment about copyrightability, a weaker record than a source deposit gives you.

Versions, updates, and releases

Each version that contains new copyrightable code is a separate work needing its own application, fee, and deposit. A registration for version 3.2 covers the changes and additions in 3.2, not versions 1 through 3.1. That leads to a practical cadence: register the initial release, then register major versions or any release you would litigate over, rather than every patch.

Two shortcuts. If your versions are unpublished (internal builds, code that has not been distributed), group registration of unpublished works lets you register up to ten of them in one application for $85. And if the deposit's copyright notice carries a range of years or several version numbers, explain in the Note to Copyright Office field whether those refer to development history or to earlier unregistered versions; skipping that note is a common source of examiner questions.

Apps, games, and websites

• Mobile and desktop apps are computer programs. Deposit the source, not the .ipa or .apk. The UI is covered as screen displays if you own the code and the design.
• Video games have two parts, the program and the audiovisual material on screen. If the same party owns both and they were published together, one application can cover both; include a portion of source code plus identifying material for the audiovisual elements.
• Websites are usually several works: the code, the text, the images. HTML is not a computer program for registration purposes and cannot be filed with an excerpted deposit; human-written HTML can be registered as a literary work with a complete copy of the code (Circular 66 covers websites).
• Databases and datasets follow different rules and their own group options; do not fold them into the program's claim.

Open-source and third-party code

You register only what you wrote and own. Third-party libraries, frameworks, and open-source dependencies must be excluded from the claim; leaving them in overstates your authorship and invites correspondence or, later, a challenge to the registration. Releasing your own code under an open-source license does not give up the copyright; the license runs on top of it, and registration is what lets you enforce the license terms in court if someone strips the attribution or violates a copyleft condition. Registering an open-source project is perfectly proper.

AI-generated code raises a separate issue: the Office requires human authorship and expects AI-generated material that is more than de minimis to be disclosed and excluded. See our guide to registering AI-assisted works before you claim code produced by a coding assistant.

When to register

Before you ship, or within three months of first publication. That window is what preserves statutory damages ($750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 for willful infringement) and attorney's fees against infringements that begin after release. Registration is also required before you can file an infringement suit at all. The certificate takes a while, the Office reports an average of 4.1 months for cases closed October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, but your effective date is the day the Office receives a complete application.

If you would rather not assemble the deposit pages, the limitation-of-claim wording, and the ownership chain yourself, our single-work registration is $149 with the $65 government fee included, filed within 2-3 business days. Send us the source and the version details and we handle the rest.