Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Can anyone explain to me WHY someone should have to go to the trouble and expense of "registering" a copyright, when the International Berne Copyright Convention, to which the US is a signatory, is supposed to guarentee their rights without them having to do anything?
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The Berne Convention only provides a minimal set of rights, which are "automatic" in the US. The Berne convention does not set a standard for appropriate legal remedies if those rights are violated. If your copyright is violated, you still retain all the rights to your work. Anything additional that happens to those violators is up to each individual signatory country.
Registration is usually not a big deal; if you're an individual self-publishing or performing on a small scale, it's unlikely your work is going to be worth anything much for people to bother stealing. If you're an professional with a money deal with a professional company in the field, they'll do the expedited registration for you.