copyright a piece of writing submitted for approval?

Question

if i write something, say for a website, and I submit it to the owner of the site for approval, what's to keep them from using the material, not paying me for it and saying that they wrote it? there isn't time to have the material copyrighted through the gov't. what should I do???

Answer 1

It depends on the country -- and the website policy.

Many websites only accept submissions if you grant them either the original copyright -- or an unlimited license to do whatever they want with it. So, you'd need to check the website policy first.

If the website doesn't have a policy like that -- then just put "Copyright YEAR by YOURNAME. All rights reserved." on the document -- that protects your copyright.

You can also take steps to further protect yourself --- such as mailing a copy to yourself in a sealed envelope (and leaving it sealed) -- or registering the copyright with your govt.