a free way to copyright your material

[desaderal]

Hi Authors -

I found a free way to copyright materials. It's a website called www.myfreecopyright.com

Traditional copyrighting is expensive and a long process and the quickie "mail it to yourself" could be problematic if you lost the letter or it got "eaten by the dog/rabbit/parrot pet thingy"

So, I hope this helps others.



ps NO, i don't own stock in this company or know the owner or ARE the owner. I'm sure there are others out there too. I am just making a helpful suggestion to others

[Jellby]

I've found an easier way: just create something.

In most countries (and, from what I've read, that includes the US), you don't have to register anything anywhere, whatever you create is copyrighted since the moment you create it, you don't even have to actually say anywhere it is copyrighted. This is not a patent.

[ardeegee]

From the Wikipedia entry:

"In all countries that are members of the Berne Convention, copyright is automatic and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder, or rightsholder, is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright. The original copyright owner of the copyright may be the employer of the author rather than the author himself, if the work is a "work for hire"."

From the dishonesty in the OP's other posts, I don't for a second believe that he isn't connected to this web site.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

From the dishonesty in the OP's other posts, I don't for a second believe that he isn't connected to this web site.

From the dishonesty in this post, I agree. Filing a copyright in the US is neither complicated nor expensive. It can, in fact, be done online in most cases these days, and fees are nominal. And, as has been noted, copyright is automatic from the moment of creation anyway; the only reason to file is because you expect to have to enforce it in court.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by desaderal

Hi Authors -

I found a free way to copyright materials. It's a website called www.[spam deleted].com

Or you could just ... write it.

Traditional copyrighting is expensive and a long process and the quickie "mail it to yourself" could be problematic if you lost the letter or it got "eaten by the dog/rabbit/parrot pet thingy"

Expensive? I checked the current price ... it's gone up. To ... $35. I spent that much on dinner for two a while ago. At a cheap restaurant. Long process? You fill out an online form. This is similar for most countries.

So, I hope this helps others.

We can get Apple reps to lie to us with no difficulty at all; it's no help to have other people doing it too.

ps NO, i don't own stock in this company or know the owner or ARE the owner. I'm sure there are others out there too. I am just making a helpful suggestion to others

Given that you claim, elsewhere, to be an author, you know how copyright works. Therefore, you know copyright exists from the moment of writing, and copyright registration isn't "expensive" or "a long process". So when what you say is diametrically at odds with what you should know ... well, I'll leave the drawing of conclusions as an exercise for the student.

[Dr. Drib]

Dear Members:

Please read the full Terms of Service before making any committment.

http://myfreecopyright.com/terms_of_service


Don
(Moderator)

[Smile Poet]

Greetings all. I have just joined, and will introduce myself fully another time.

However, Worldwalker just caught my eye with his comment on registration 'This is similar for most countries.'

So far as I am aware, the US is the only country with a registration process, and most certainly the only country that inhibits pursuing breach in the courts with that process. As the Convention quote above shows, this requirement is in breach of Berne.

Proving ownership of copyright is another matter, of course, and much more difficult in a digital age. In the UK, where we have absolutely no registration process, I have come across only very rare challenges over copyright ownership.

There are big issues, on the other hand, with the threat to rights from actions by Google, in particular. The dangerous Book Agreement is still sitting in the New York Federal court in the US waiting for someone to have the courage to confirm, amend or reject it. Our problem is the fact so many in copyright books have been scanned without the permission of rights holders, and are held on servers.

The completely international nature of the Web means the Agreement is of concern in every country.

[Worldwalker]

I did not say that copyright did not exist without registration; I said that copyright registration was neither long nor expensive, as the OP claimed, which threw into doubt both his knowledge and his lack of involvement with a company of dubious honesty. As I stated in my post, copyright exists from the moment of creation, as per Berne. However, registration serves as proof of the time of creation and which can be useful if you want to collect triple damages (as opposed to, say, just an injunction) in the courts. My point was that he claimed "long" was "filling in an online form" and "expensive" was $35, and I disagree on both counts.

There is nothing that the OP's (and your?) company can do that someone can't do for themselves.

[Smile Poet]

You misunderstand. Your comment appeared to suggest registration occurred in other countries. I was pointing out that America was the only country where it was used; and the only place where legal action for breach is inhibited through that process.

As regards any organisation that pretends to offer a registration process, my view is the same as yours. Even where a simple record of content deposit is offered it has little value, since comparison of works would be the key in any claims. And those, as I say, seem to be extremely rare.

I'm not sure how you misunderstood me, unless I picked up incorrectly on your phrase; that phrase alarmed me. I have in fact long argued against registration processes since they have little real value. The explosion in published works and in published material generally makes even attempts to catalogue everything look pretty hopeless.

But I had not intended, either, to hijack this thread; and I apologise for the diversion I have caused. My interest in joining is firstly about the processes for EPUB, and then developing understanding beyond my present level of the other formats.