Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggleton
Maybe we need another poll about whether or not we should go back to having to file a copyright claim for anything you want copyrighted, a process for registering a claim at no cost would have to be developed, but I think streamlining the current process and making use of the crowd as well as a few tax dollars might work, we are talking about the public good here, and the advancement of the arts.
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One of the reasons that was abandoned was the hassle of copyrighting unpublished works in process. When do you register it--when you start the outline for the novel? When it's half-finished? When the rough draft is done? Do you need to register the first chapter & outline before you send it to a publisher to pitch it, and register again before you send off the draft for editing? Do you also register the final, pre-print version after your changes?
Songs have even more hassles; do you register the lyrics and music separately? If you add a few verses and change the chorus a bit, do you need to register each change?
Requiring pre-registration for protection is a bad idea. The current system has some big problems (including the time & hassle to register in order to file useful infringement lawsuits), but there's good reasons not to require registration before the protection kicks in.
But I'd love to see "it's protected for 15 years from creation in fixed form automatically--after that, you have to register it." That's plenty of time to decide your college newspaper articles are worth developing into a book, or your high-school poetry is worth polishing & selling to the New Yorker. It would mean anything more than 15 years old would be public domain, available for everyone, unless it was on a list somewhere. You could find out if the lyrics used by the garage band you were part of as a teenager are restricted (and know who to ask about permissions), or if your new band can safely put them on an album.
Otherwise, you're stuck with "Who wrote that? Tony's girlfriend, wasn't it? What the heck was her name, and how would I find her now?"