How to Copyright

There have been a lot of problems lately with people stealing and posting things on the Internet. The (incorrect) assumption is that anything on the Web is public domain. Creators of all types are learning to protect themselves by making it clear that their work is copyrighted: A copyright protects an artist, publisher or writer from unauthorized copying of his or her work - including song lyrics.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Disks
• Paper And Pencils
• Sheet Music
• Audio CD

1. Write your lyric and put it in a tangible form - on paper, sheet music, computer disk or audiotape. You can't copyright an idea that is still in your head.

2. Recognize that anything written after April 1, 1989, is automatically protected (in the United States) by an assumed copyright. If you don't transfer the copyright to someone else, it will last 70 years past your date of death.

3. Register with the U.S. Copyright Office so that you can more easily collect damages if your work is copied. This also provides public notice.

4. Use the U.S. Copyright Office's PA form to register a song. Use its SR form to register published and unpublished sound recordings.

5. Expect to pay a nonrefundable fee for registration. The basic registration fee is $45, which took effect July 1, 2006.

6. Include a copyright notice at the end of your work. The proper format is: Copyright or ©, year of first publication of the work, author's name: © 2000 John Doe or Copyright 2000 John Doe.

Tips & Warnings

• Check out the Copyright Office's free electronic-mailing list, NewsNet. To subscribe, send a message to [e-mail]. Type SUBSCRIBE USCOPYRIGHT in the body of the message.
• Register your copyright anytime, but remember that, if registration is made within three months before an infringement of the work, the owner can collect statutory damages and attorney's fees in court action. If the work is not registered, he or she can collect only actual damages and profits.

Resources

• U.S. Copyright Office

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Copyright Online Today at LegalZoom

[isatoy]

on 3/24/2009 Good advice 5*

[MacKniven]

on 8/25/2008 If you have a lot of work it can be expensive and take a lot of time to use the USCO. All you really need is third party, independent confirmation of when you made the work.
You can do this online with a service called www.provemycopyright.com. You get an account, so you can upload as much stuff as you want.

[niceguy101]

on 9/24/2007 I don't get it. What's the difference if you send it to the gov. or notarize it yourself [obviously thorugh a proper Notary Public]?

[cdh3021]

on 3/6/2007 The new basic copyright fee is now $45

on 8/8/2006 Copyrights are for intellectual property, possessing a physical copy of something does not imply authorship, only ownership. It's the author that has rights to the copyright of that intellectual property.

Having a sealed envelope and a notary stamp does not prove that you created the underlying work.

30 dollars is nothing. If you're too cheap for that, then your work probably isn't that important to you.

It's funny how many people recommend Poor Man's Copyrights like they've actually seen it work. The US Copyright Office doesn't even acknowledge them as a substitute. But what do they know? It's not like they authored US Copyright Law.