Elliot Michael Zimmerman's Answers

Would I have to copyright each episode of an animated cartoon or could I consider them to be a collection?

The only advantage to copyrighting a collection versus each work individually is that it is cheaper to file. With respect to a collection, your statutory damages for infringement are proportioned in relation to the number of works contained in the collection. So, if you submit 10 pictures as a collection, and only 1 is infringed, the maximum statutory damage award would be 1/10th of $30,000 plus costs and attorney's fees. Conversely, although cheaper to file only 1 collection for copyright...