Where & how can you get something copyrighted?

Question

I wrote a book last summer & wanted to get it copyrighted but i didnt know where or how...

Answer 1

These days you don't have to do anything for it to be copyrighted...But if you want to sue over it, you'll need to register it with the PTO office.

Answer 2

As mentioned in other answers you own the copyright once you create a document or book. If you copyright your material, I feel that it does not hurt your chances of being published. Publishers put copyright information in the book when it is published through them. Having it copyrighted with a date only makes the process more simple as the date is already established. My book Integrity: Do You Have It? 2nd edition is copyrighted for a specific year and my name.

When submitting your material it would be necessary to furnish the proof of the copyright registration through the government as noted in another answer. Once your book is published they require two copies of the published book for their files.

I would recommend following the instructions on the government copyright site for registering your work. I feel the money is well worth it for the registration.

There are many writers and as they create their work it is copyrighted as the current law states. To help instill more substantial copyright evidence I would strongly apply for registration of your material. Any publisher should accept this and place the proper information in the book when it is published.

Answer 3

You will get a lot of answers telling you a lot of different things, but listen to the voice of experience.

Do not do it if you intend to try and publish it. Copyrighting your own work shows publishers and agents that you are amateur and inexperienced. It also shows them you dont trust them. You owned the material from the moment you wrote it.

If you keep it offline (dont post it anywhere!!!!) and query agents and small publishers, if you manage to sell it, your publisher will arrange the copyrights for you.

Posting online will just complicate things and ruin your chances of publishing. There is too much plagerism and too many sites have fine print saying material posted there belongs to them. It just causes hassles for the legal department of the publisher and they will just turn you down rather that deal with it.

Your best bet is to get yourself a copy of Writers Market 2007 and start reading it carefully and learning how to write a good strong query letter. Then go through the agents and small publishers and look for ones who are reading material in your genre. Then start sending out queries following each person's submission guidelines EXACTLY. Send no more or no less than what they request. You cannot query the large publishers. They deal with agents only. Writers Market is the best 30 bucks you can spend.

Good luck. Pax- C

PS The so called "Poor Man's Copyright" can be faked in many ways and most of the time does not hold up in court. That why it is unwise to share your material with anyone other than via query letters to agents and publishers.

1) The Poor man’s copyright can be faked in several ways. NOTE: These are examples only to show you that the poor man copyright is not fool proof and you need to know that. Please do NOT try to use these examples to try to break the law. By their own nature, you can see that the poor man's copyright examples may not stand up too well in court if you wanted them to. Cheap Copyright could become expensive in the long run!
Try this yourself:
Fake a Poor Man’s copyright: Easy example:
Take a blank envelope and write your own address on it.
DO NOT SEAL THE ENVELOPE
Mail the envelope to yourself
When you get the envelope, put anything you want into it, and THEN seal it.
You now have an envelope posted on a certain date, with your work in it.
Compare that fake with one that you would have used as your poor mans’ copyright

Fake a Poor Man’s copyright: Complex example:
Take a blank envelope and write your own address on it.
Put a blank CD inside and fasten the envelope with a paperclip only
Mail the envelope to yourself
When you get the envelope, open it up and take out the CD,
Set the clock on your computer to two days before you posted the envelope
Burn whatever you want onto the CD, put it into the envelope, and THEN seal it.
You now have a CD, that says you burnt it on a certain date, in an envelope sent on a certain date
Fake hundreds of PoorMan’s copyrights: Extreme example:
Mix-and-match any of the above examples, with as many envelopes as you want
Keep them handy for when you want to fake a poor-mans copyright for years to come
You could now TRY to prove that any work was yours, including new work from famous names.
YOU WOULD BE VERY SILLY TO TRY THIS!
Question:
Why would a court of law, if they have read and tried the above – trust the Poor Mans Copyright?

2) The poor man's copyright has rarely been heralded as a success anywhere that we can find online.
Actually, we cannot find one example anywhere, where someone has said

‘yeah – the poor man’s copyright really worked for me’ and mentioned the court case etc…
It’s true. Look anywhere you will – you will find lots of people giving you free advice about how to make a poor mans copyright. They will tell you all about how the Poorman’s copyright can be carried out, how the poor mans copyright will save you countless amounts of money and and how the poor-mans copyright will save you the time it takes for something to be filed with the copyright office. “I use the poormans copyright” “Mail it to yourself” “Use this, the Poor Man’s copyright works best”. Etc… etc..
There are actually more people in forums who say ‘I have heard about the Poor-Mans copyright, and this is how you do it”; than there are of people who have actually used it! Please, if you have used the poor-mans copyright, and you have had to use it to prove a case… email us at [e-mail] (please, in the subject title, type Proof The Poor Mans Copyright Works - otherwise I will delete the email, as I get a lot of spam from email harvesters – please include in the email all the details of the poor man’s copyright case example, with all references and your permission to re-produce it online here on this page).

Answer 4

1. Since April 1, 1989 all original creative work automatically is copyrighted with or without the mark.

2. However, if you really want to pay the $45 registration fee, then go to this website for all the details:

http://www.copyright.gov/

Answer 5

One way to prove something is yours and it will stand up in court just like something that is copywritten is to mail the original to yourself by registered mail.

When you get it, put it away in a safe place and never open it.

What that does is, the postal stamp proves when you did it and the fact that it has never been opened proves it has not be tampered with.

If you ever have to go to court the judge will open it and that is your proof of when you did it.

Musicians do that alot, it does hold up in court.