It's Business Time

Technically, by the very act of creating a work, you’ve created copyright protection for yourself.  Of course, if anyone gets ahold of your work and files a copyright with the US Copyright Office themselves, going into a court and explaining to the judge that you created it first, with nothing to back up that claim, isn’t likely to get you very far.  You may have heard of the “poor man’s copyright” (mailing a copy of your work to yourself, keeping the envelope sealed upon arrival), but any attorney worth his or her salt will rip that claim apart — there’s absolutely no legal language to support that your stamped and sealed envelope is evidence of anything other than the ability of the Postal Service to deliver a package.  The only way you can be awarded damages for someone infringing on your copyright is to register your work with the US Copyright Office.  Period.

With this in mind, unless you plan on keeping your work locked away in an attic for all eternity, it’s a good idea to register the work with the US Copyright Office.  It’s cheap, it’s easy, and you can rest easy knowing that you have inarguable ownership of what you’ve worked so hard to create.

As a side note, even if you can’t see yourself ever suing anyone for infringement, there are other great reasons to register your copyright.  Imagine this scenario: a screenwriter comes across your book, loves it, and decides she’d love to base her next screenplay on it.  She’s a socially conscious individual who wants to make sure you get your fair share, but without a copyright registration, how is she going to know where to mail the check?  If you’re registered, it’s simple.  She searches the US Copyright Office records by title, locates the work, and sees the owner — your contact information is just a click away.

Stay tuned — in a few days we’ll go over what you can and can’t copyright, the information you’ll need to do so, and what this means for your business.