Did you use AI tools for any part of it?
Why we ask: in the United States, the Copyright Office asks you to disclose AI-generated material and registers only the parts a person made. Being clear now saves trouble later, wherever you live.
Your AI authorship record Free
Show that AI was a tool in your hands, not the author. Log each step: what you made yourself, what the AI tool made, and the files from each step. In the U.S., human expression you can see in the final work, creative edits, and creative selection and arrangement can be protected. Prompts alone generally don't count, and the Copyright Office decides case by case. This record is your evidence.
The AI tools you used
How complete is your record?
Your human authorship statement
AI helper Pro
Claude rewrites your statement, drafts your filing text, or writes a "how it was made" blurb for buyers, using only what's in your record. Always read it over: you're the one signing.
Rights check
Four quick questions. They protect you, and every buyer will want the same answers before they pay.
Did anyone else help make it? (a co-creator, editor, designer, or contractor)
Do they have a signed agreement giving you the rights to their part?
Does it show anyone who could be recognized?
Do you have written permission from each person? (from a parent or guardian for anyone under 18)
Does it include anything made by someone else? (music, art, footage, photos, fonts, logos, or brand names)
Is each piece licensed, permitted in writing, or your own?
Agreements for the people around your work Pro
Paying someone doesn't give you the rights to what they made. These templates get it in writing, filled in from your answers, ready to sign.
A SHA-256 fingerprint is a 64-character code. The same file always gives the same code, and changing a single pixel or frame gives a completely different one. Use your original, unedited master file.
Stamping writes your files' fingerprints into Bitcoin, which proves the date they existed. CopyRise emails you the proof, keeps a backup copy in the CopyRise database, and emails the final proof when Bitcoin confirms. Your files never leave your device.
- StampSend the fingerprints
- Save your proofEmailed to you, and here
- Bitcoin confirmsWithin a few hours
We'll send your proof files and record here. One free work per email.
Good to know: fingerprints written into Bitcoin are public and permanent. A fingerprint reveals nothing about what's in your file.
Already stamped somewhere else? Add those proofs
Optional: add a public record on Bitcoin (Ordinals)
Your stamp above is private proof: only someone holding your proof file can see it. An Ordinals inscription is the public version. It writes a short text record of this work (title, creator, owner, fingerprints, license) onto Bitcoin itself, where anyone can look it up by its inscription number on ordinals.com. Your files never go on the blockchain, only the record.
It costs a Bitcoin network fee, usually a few dollars, paid from your own wallet. CopyRise never holds your Bitcoin. An inscription is public and permanent: it can't be edited or removed, so check the record first. Your email is never included.
See the record that would be inscribed
Inscribe with Xverse adds a CopyRise service fee of 15,000 sats (0.00015 BTC) on top of the Bitcoin network fee. Xverse shows both before you approve, and nothing is charged if you cancel. It works with the Xverse browser extension on the live CopyRise site. Downloading the record is free: upload that exact file to any inscription service, without retyping it.
Your copyright exists the moment you make the work. In the U.S., registering it is what lets you enforce it. Pick where you're based to see what applies.
Why U.S. artists register
- You can't sue without it. A U.S. work has to be registered (or refused) before you can file a copyright lawsuit. The Supreme Court confirmed this in 2019 (Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com).
- Timing decides what you can win. Statutory damages, up to $150,000 per work for willful copying, and having the other side pay your attorney's fees are only available if you registered before the copying started, or within 3 months of first publishing.
- Your certificate is evidence. Registered within 5 years of publishing, a court treats your certificate as evidence that your copyright is valid and the facts in it are true.
- It's where AI gets sorted out. Your application names any AI material and claims what you made, the way the Copyright Office asks.
Your Bitcoin stamp proves your file existed on a date. Registration is what lets you act on it.
Want to protect a name or logo you sell under? That's a trademark, not a copyright. Read our free trademark guide for artists.
Your 3-month window
In the U.S., statutory damages ($750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 per work if a court finds the copying willful) and having the other side pay your attorney's fees depend on timing. For copying that starts after you publish, the Copyright Office needs your complete application, fee, and copy of the work within 3 months of first publication. For any other copying, register before it starts. Most artists never hear about this until it's too late.
Let CopyRise register it for you Recommended
With the U.S. Copyright Office. Answer plain questions, CopyRise fills out the application, you review it and sign, and Rebel Shed files it for you as your authorized agent. One all-in price, with the government fee included. You get the case number, and the certificate comes to you by mail.
1. About the work
A group saves money: one application and one fee for up to 10 works. Every work must be unpublished, the same kind of work, made by the same author or authors, and owned by them.
Published means copies were sold, given away, or offered to the public, like prints, downloads, or merch with the art on it. Showing it online or in a gallery isn't always publication. If you're not sure, ask for an attorney review before you file.
2. Who made it
3. Who owns it
4. Anything that isn't new or isn't yours
The Copyright Office requires you to disclose AI-generated material that's more than a trivial part of the work and leave it out of the claim. Only the parts you created can be registered. If AI did a lot of the work, ask for an attorney review first.
5. Your contact details
6. The copy you'll deposit
The Copyright Office keeps a copy of the work. After you pay, you'll upload this exact file to Rebel Shed. We check that its fingerprint matches before we file.
7. Review
8. Sign
Checkout by Stripe. One all-in price: the Copyright Office fee is included, and we pay it to the Office for you. Complicated case? Ask for an attorney review instead.
Already ordered a filing? Check its status
Not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so check the official office before you file.
Can people share it for free?
Can they use it to make money without paying you?
Can they change it or remix it?
When a school, brand, or business wants to use your work, fill this in to get an agreement ready for both of you to sign. It lists your files by their fingerprints, so there's never a question about which file was licensed.
What kind of license?
Which of your files
This is a draft, not legal advice. Have a lawyer read it before anyone signs. Once it's signed, fingerprint and stamp the signed copy in steps 2 and 3, so the deal itself is on the record too.
Preview the agreement
Get it signed
Upload the saved agreement to any e-signature service, add yourself and the licensee as signers, and send it. Both of you get a signed PDF.
Get paid
Make a payment link for the fee and paste it into the Payment link box above, so it goes right into the agreement. If you have a Shopify store, list the license as a digital product and use its link. The money goes straight to you.
Each payment service keeps a small fee from every sale. Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per U.S. card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards. PayPal and Shopify charge similar fees; check their pricing pages. CopyRise takes nothing from your sales. Set your license fee with that in mind.
Stamp the signed copy
Once it's signed by both of you, drop the signed PDF here. It's fingerprinted and stamped into Bitcoin right away, so the deal itself is on the record.
Stamp your record last. Save the record file once it's final, then stamp that saved file without opening and re-saving it. Any edit changes its fingerprint.
Keep AI from training on it
No single tool stops every AI company, so artists use a few layers. These are free.
- Say no in your license. "No, ask me first" in step 5 marks your work as reserving text and data mining rights, on your record, agreements, and pages. That reservation carries legal weight in the EU; in the U.S., courts are still deciding when AI training is fair use.
- Tell crawlers no. Your CopyRise license page and catalog site carry "noai" and data-mining reservation tags, and your catalog's robots.txt asks AI crawlers to stay out. Well-behaved crawlers listen; not all do.
- Cloak the images you post. Glaze makes small pixel changes that confuse AI style copying. Nightshade goes further. Both come from the University of Chicago. Only cloak the copies you post, never your originals: changing a file changes its fingerprint.
- Label who made it. Adobe Content Authenticity is a free app that attaches Content Credentials to your images, with your name and an AI training preference. Anyone can read them at contentcredentials.org/verify.
- Check your platforms. Look in the privacy or AI settings of each site you post on, and opt out where you can.
To show someone your proof, send them the file and its .ots proof. They open Check a proof at the top of this site, drop in both, and see the date Bitcoin recorded. They don't need an account.
Publish a license page
Get a ready-made web page for this work: who made it, its fingerprints and Bitcoin proof, your free license, and a form buyers use to request a paid license. Put it on your own site, or drag it into Netlify Drop for a free address.
Optional: let buyers pay on the page with Stripe
For a fixed-price standard license, create a Payment Link in Stripe, then make a Buy Button from it (Payment Links, then Buy button). Paste the two codes Stripe shows you. Both are safe to put on a public page. Never paste a secret key (it starts with sk_).
The request form emails you through FormSubmit, a free form service. The first request sends you a one-time confirmation email.
Save a permanent public copy
Once your license page is online, save a dated copy at the Internet Archive, a nonprofit that has archived the web since 1996. Anyone can look it up later, even if your site changes.
Your catalog site
Build your own catalog: a home page plus a page for every work, each with its proof, its license, and a form buyers use to ask about licensing. Add each finished work here, then download the whole site as one zip and drag it into Netlify Drop for a free web address.
Your catalog is kept in this browser, separate from your drafts, so Start over won't erase it. Pictures are shrunk to web size. Unzip the download, then drag the folder into Netlify Drop. To update the catalog later, add or remove works and upload the new folder to the same site. Add where the catalog will live and the download also includes printable proof cards with a QR code for every work, for certificates, merch tags, and show cards.