Your PowerPoint presentation is copyrighted the moment you create it. Unlike ideas, systems or methods of operation, a PowerPoint is a tangible work that is afforded full copyright protection. Although your PowerPoint presentation is already technically copyrighted, you may want a more formal copyright procedure to protect your work. Formally copyrighting your PowerPoint presentation gets your creation on public record and affords you better protection in a court of law.

Register with the United States Department of Copyright's Electronic Copyright Office to submit your copyright online.

Log into your account and then click "Register a New Claim."

Click "Start Registration."

Follow the interview style questionnaire about the PowerPoint you want to register. You will be asked questions about you, your work, the title of the PowerPoint and when the PowerPoint was created. Finally, you'll be asked to upload the PowerPoint to the system.

Pay the filing fees. As of June, 2011 the filing fee is $35.

Tip

Add a copyright notice to your PowerPoint presentation to avoid people thinking your work is in the public domain. To insert a copyright notice, type "(c) date, your name" where "date" is the date the work was first published and "your name" is your actual name. The (c) will be converted to a copyright symbol in PowerPoint.

Warning

"Poor man's copyright," where you send a copy of your work to yourself as proof that you created it on a certain date, isn't mentioned in copyright law and may not be accepted as proof of copyright in legal proceedings.