Help a girl out?!?!

[northbloke]

I think you may have misunderstood me - if you want to register copyright, you have to pay but if you do it direct then you don't have to pay legal fees on top of the registration fee.
Remember you do not have to register your copyright, it's optional. But should someone steal your work it would make it easier to claim. It doesn't mean you can't claim if you don't register just that it may be harder to prove the theft (this is where the posting-it-to-yourself trick comes in).

[addicted2comics(:P)]

  uhhh....I think I'll make it easier on myself and save up.

and the payment is exactly what I meant by legal fee.

[Jimmy]

See Brittany this what I told you from day one

[addicted2comics(:P)]

[gardibolt]

Lots and lots of confusion here.

There is no state copyright in the USA.  None.  It's entirely federal (it's in the Constitution).

It used to be you had to register the copyright with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress to have copyright protection, but for some years now, the rule has been that you automatically have copyright when you create the work.  You only have to register it if you want to go after someone from stealing your works; in that case you need to have registered in order to get automatic damages; otherwise you have to prove actual losses before you can collect.

While registration is a good idea, it isn't free.  It does cost $35 to do a registration.  But if you don't have $35 to file a copyright, you also probably don't have the $$$$ to pay a lawyer to sue someone or even send a cease & desist letter either.  So there's not much point to registering the copyright.

At any rate, the automatic copyright protection extends to minors as well as adults.  You can put "© 2010 Your Name Here" on without registering.

Note that trademarks are very different from copyrights; that's an entirely different issue.

[lyonsden5]

Sounds like we have someone who is familiar with the law! Thanks Gardibolt.

I should add a warm welcome as well. 

[addicted2comics(:P)]

huh, then I must have been reading the wrong info!

I'll go through the registration when I save up enough, planning on getting a summer job. Either way, glad to have someone straighten this out!!

[Achim]

It used to be you had to register the copyright with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress to have copyright protection, but for some years now, the rule has been that you automatically have copyright when you create the work.  You only have to register it if you want to go after someone from stealing your works; in that case you need to have registered in order to get automatic damages; otherwise you have to prove actual losses before you can collect.

So to me the registration looks like a good idea.

If someone steals the work and then registers before the original author does, one would have a hard time proving who came first. (Kinda like Big Fat Liar )

[Jimmy]

If someone steals the work and then registers before the original author does, one would have a hard time proving who came first.

Not really if you use my trick.

[Alien Redrum]

If someone steals the work and then registers before the original author does, one would have a hard time proving who came first.

Not really if you use my trick.

This really shouldn't be recommended as an only attempt at copyright. No filmmaker/artist I know would seriously use the poor man's copyright as their only copyright. A few of my friends have used it for a quick fix while they wait for their copyright to come back (which can take years), but none of them use it by itself, as none of them believe it can really stand up in court.

Snopes article on it.

Admittedly, it could be different outside of the US, and it could serve a purpose if it's tied with other evidence, but I would highly recommend not using just that as your copyright proof.

*edit*

If someone beats you to the register, I still don't know if the mail trick will work. It's so easy to manipulate.

[Jimmy]

It's so easy to manipulate.

how? The letter had the post office stamp.

[Alien Redrum]

But the contents don't.

You can open it up and put whatever you want in there, then reseal it.

Or, you can send it in one of those clasp envelopes unsealed (just clasped) and then seal it later.

I'm sure if you are shady you can think of hundreds of different ways.

[Jimmy]

Seriously if I would be the one who used this system to prove the ownership of my works I think I would be intelligent enough to put it in a package send by recommanded mail who is impossible to open with no dammage...

[Alien Redrum]

Seriously if I would be the one who used this system to prove the ownership of my works I think I would be intelligent enough to put it in a package send by recommanded mail who is impossible to open with no dammage...

I think you misunderstand me.

Let's look at it another way.

Say you write a book and you get it copyrighted and published and it sells gajillions. Suddenly, you get sued by a guy who said he had the idea two years before you did and he has proof in an unopened envelope. The point is, he could have very easily manipulated that envelope for his own nefarious purposes, and you would become the victim.

But as the snopes article stated, unless the guy suing you has evidence other than this sealed envelope, chances are incredibly high he won't get too far in his lawsuit.

Unfortunately it works both ways. If you write the next great novel and only 'copyright' it with the poor man's copyright and nothing else, and someone somehow steals your idea and registers it, if your sealed envelope is your only evidence, I would speculate you are screwed.

[samuelrichardscott]

That's true AR and the main reason my lawsuit against JK Rowling never worked out.