However, there are a number of practical steps which should be taken by authors of copyright (including employers) to identify and safeguard copyright works:

• They must also ensure that the company is the owner of the work by identifying the authors of the relevant work and ensuring that ownership and licensing arrangements are in force. If any of the materials have been commissioned from third parties, ensure that appropriate copyright assignments and waivers of moral rights were included in the written agreements commissioning the materials. If the necessary assignments and waivers were not included in those agreements, arrange for separate copyright assignments and waivers to be obtained from the third parties.
• Authors should sign and date their works and, where relevant to the term of copyright, the date of first marketing of articles should be recorded. These records can then be used as the basis for any infringement action. Actions can fail if the claimant cannot prove subsistence of copyright or ownership. Records may also be invaluable in defending any claim for copyright infringement. Evidence that a work was created prior to the work alleged to be infringed is a powerful defence.
• Apply a notice in accordance with the Universal Copyright Convention, that is, "Copyright © [name of copyright owner] [year of publication]". Although this is not necessary as a matter of law to gain protection, it is a useful notice and warning to anyone using the work that copyright exists and that action may be taken if the work is copied.
• Depending on the type of work involved, additional text can be included with the copyright notice. This might include: text prohibiting the reproduction of any material whether by photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means or otherwise (this does not affect the legal position but serves as a reminder and might also be useful in preventing any user from arguing that there was an implied licence in its favour permitting copying or storage); warnings stipulating that the doing of any unauthorised act in relation to the work will result in both civil and criminal liability; warnings that any copying will result in criminal or civil action; a form of disclaimer to provide protection for the author and the publisher if use is made of opinions or views expressed in written materials.

The owner of a UK copyright work may also want to consider registering that work in the US as part of his general intellectual property management policy. Registration is not required for a foreign copyright work to be protected in the US. However, the question of registration affects whether statutory damages may be claimed in US copyright infringement proceedings in respect of a UK work, and also gives a copyright owner evidentiary benefits, and the possibility of attorneys’ fees in such proceedings.

Increasingly, it is upon the rights-holder to enforce his rights and, unless he does so, he may lose the rights, at least against a persistent infringer (this is clearly evident in the field of trademarks, where rights can be lost if not asserted. It is therefore important to put the infringer on notice and to keep a record of doing so.

Speed of notice and action may be important if immediate injunctions are required. A delay of, say, a month may be fatal to such an application. This is because in order to succeed the claimant will have to argue irreparable damage caused by the infringement and any delay in bringing proceedings may count against that argument.