Copyright registering

[Fen|ce]

Hi all.
My question is simple. I'm going probably to sign for an hosting plan on Futurequest. My site will contain reviews and infomrations regarding videogames. Can anyone tell me
how to register the copyright on my works?
1-2-3 style please!! I'm really a dummy :((

Thank you!

[Armand]

While not a copyright attorney...

Well if your country is a member of the Berne convention (not sure about UCC countries) then I do believe that just putting something into in a tangible form copyrights it automatically with the exception of facts and the like. But it is best to add a copyright notice ( i.e. © name year type of thing) and perhaps officially register through your government to ensure you have a better case if ever having to go to court to enforce.[nbsp][nbsp]Copyrighting content of a constantly changing website in and of itself is perhaps a more logistical nightmare than print, software, or art mediums.[nbsp][nbsp]So overall it's always best to check your government to learn the laws specific to you.

[Brian]

Another suggestion is to send a copy of it in a sealed envelope sent certified mail to yourself. The concept of this is that if someone steals your work and it goes to the courts you can then open this sealed postmarked envelope and show the date you created the work to prove it was yours before they used/stole it.

-Brian

[dank]

What if two different people steal your work on two different occasions?[nbsp][nbsp];)

Not to say that it's a bad suggestion -- I see it recommended a lot and it makes sense at face value -- but how truly useful is something that is intended for long-term use but is about as long lasting as a disposable diaper?

There has to be something similar in concept that is a permanent legal record, sort of like Read Only Memory...[nbsp][nbsp]Otherwise it's like a warranty that is voided by opening the box, or a mountain bike warranty that is voided by riding it off-road.

Diaper
[nbsp]- re-seal?

[Armand]

Actually called the poor man's copyright Brian.

But I do believe, in the U.S. at least, that actually registering with the United States Copyright Office ups the potential for recouping financial loses if an infringment occurs.[nbsp][nbsp]Without official registration I think the dollar amount any court can grant has a much smaller cap/limit.[nbsp][nbsp]So suppose it's a matter of how much you might be out.[nbsp][nbsp]If not much, do the postal thing.

For the US, another cool aspect is that you can usually lump as much stuff together as you can and try copyrighting it all under one fee... trick is the selection of how you do it. ;)

But again best to check out if Italy's copyright office or whatever it is called is online and what specifics you can get from them.

[Stephen]

just for the record, the Poor Man's Copyright is a total myth. you can register with a national copyright agency for greatest protection, but usually people just wing it and place a copyright notice on their work (though in the U.S. even that isn't strictly necessary--it's copyrighted as soon as it exists in a tangible form).[nbsp]

[Armand]

Dank, must have missed your post.[nbsp][nbsp]2 different people/occasions... you go after them and enforce your copyright, via cease and desist or such.[nbsp][nbsp]But otherwise are you suggesting the concept of copyright[nbsp][nbsp](and thus intellectual property) shouldn't even exist?[nbsp][nbsp]Hmm... sounds like a Napster argument and look what happened to them. ;)

Stephen, I personally never said otherwise.[nbsp][nbsp]However the poor man's copyright isn't a myth.[nbsp][nbsp]Yes it is copyrighted by being put into tangible form.[nbsp][nbsp]But in the case of infringement occurs and the offending party doesn't take heed to say a cease-and-desist letter/email.[nbsp][nbsp]Well you may have to take them to court, where you'd have to prove ownership and if called into question date of creation/copyright as Brain alluded to.

Sorry for going nuts in here... woes of being a writer and running a literary site where 20% of the questions are about copyright law it seems.

[dank]

Armand,

No, that's not what I'm saying, at least not intentionally.[nbsp][nbsp]What I meant is that the sealed, postal-dated "copyright" envelope can only be used as proof once.[nbsp][nbsp]For the method to be useful multiple times, you would need to guess correctly how many times you may have to produce proof of copyright and mail yourself that many letters.

Dan

[janderk]

Everything you always wanted to know about copyright, but were afraid to ask:

http://www2.lawexpress.com/dt/browse/lawexpress/index.cfm?ParentId=3480&fuseaction=ViewContent&NodeI-d=3317&CFID=5825&CFTOKEN=58408752

Please remove the hyphen on the second line to make this link work. The board keeps insisting on adding the hyphen and breaking the link. Sorry.

Jan Derk

[Edit: link was not correct]
[This message has been edited by janderk (edited 03-05-01@1:34 pm)]

[dank]

use a normal blank cdr (not cdrw) and store the information on this. It would the be time dated... Wouldn't it be time stamped based on your computer time, which can easily be set differently?

Dated

[Brian]

That is true, I figured there was a flaw to this method but for the life of me couldnt think what it would be lol :)[nbsp]

[Armand]

http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/copyrights.html

[Brian]

What if two different people steal your work on two different occasions?[nbsp][nbsp]
You would simply have to provide the court transcript showing the file was opened by a judicial authority, and at the time they opened it you would make a verbal mention of it so its in the court reporters documentation.

Another idea although I don’t know if there is any case law to support it is to use a normal blank cdr (not cdrw) and store the information on this. It would the be time dated and you could prove stuff by this and also prove that it hasn’t been changed as it’s a one write cdr and thus you cant make changes. But again I haven’t read any briefs or case law that has established this but it would be an idea..

But if you have something of high value than of course I would suggest seeing a civil attorney that specializes in this field to discuss your options..

-Brian

[Tatuu]

I don't know of a flaw to the placement of everything on a CD, but I do know one of the reasons the poor man's copyright is popular is because the date is technically verified by the U.S. government and holds up in court much more nicely.

[PaulKroll]

...because the date is technically verified by the U.S. government...
Steps:
1) Get large post-it-notes.
2) Place in envelope so that the sticky part is touching the outer flap and the "bulk" is within the envelope, keeping it closed.
3) Mail letter to self.
4) Remove post-it, and whenever in the future you need to commit felony level fraud, place documents inside the envelope and seal it.

That's one way. There are others. I honestly believe the Poor Man's Copyright would never make it in court: I'm with Stephen on this. I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice.

[dank]

I don't know of a flaw to the placement of everything on a CD Er, how about the one I mentioned... How would you verify the accuracy of the date?[nbsp][nbsp]A friend once told me that he always sets his time/date several years into the future when downloading and installing expiring shareware.[nbsp][nbsp]I'm not convinced that would work for the bulk of programs, but he seemed to like the effectiveness.

For that matter, how hard would it be to spoof a postal stamp?[nbsp][nbsp]A kindergardener could probably due a pretty good imitation with a potato.[nbsp][nbsp]I'm sure they change from time to time, but it can't be too hard to look up stamps from specific periods.

Dfraud

[Tatuu]

Like I (wish I would have) said, I've never actually heard of the poor man's copyright being used in court ever but I guess it would be better than nothing ??

Registering copyrights doesn't cost that much any way, right?

[Stephen]

the reason the Poor Man's Copyright exists in myth is because of threads like this that make it seem a legitimate way of protecting yourself. it's not. all the methods you guys have discussed are full of flaws which even you admit. that's why there's a copyright office--if you ever intend to go to court then you better have used it, and not the post office. it costs about twenty bucks to register a piece of work. i'm a writer and my book is "protected" in that sense (although i doubt anyone would be stupid enough to plagarize from it). it takes about 6 months to hear back from the copyright office after sending in your work, so the official copyright date seems to be the later one, but a court would likely recognize the time lag and take it into account if it really mattered.

[Armand]

Again not a lawyer...

Actually your copyright in case of a court case dates back usually I think to the time it is received by the copyright office provided it does latter get approved.

But in the US a copyright must be registered before an infringement case can be brought to a court (for works created in the US after 3/1/89 -- exception being those in other Berne Convention countries).[nbsp][nbsp]Staturory damages and fees (attorney/court) can't be sought unless the work was already registered before the infringement or the 3 month grace period following publication for copyright registration to be sent to the US copyright office.[nbsp][nbsp](That's actual basic US law on the issue).

So no the mail route isn't sufficient for courts, but it does tend to be a good tool for cease-and-desist type of negotations and other discussions with an infringer if no copyright registration is otherwise availabe.[nbsp][nbsp]And negotation should probably be the first avenue taken.[nbsp][nbsp]Since legal jurisdiction tends to fail to the infringers area.

The biggest problems with websites as I stated however is that unless your site is to be static and remain unchanged, it is a very impossible thing to register all contents of your website collectively.[nbsp][nbsp]Of course provided the changes are deriatives of the pieces you sent it for registration then they are better covered.

6 months to register huh?[nbsp][nbsp]Wonder if the CORDS method is fully in place yet/still.[nbsp][nbsp]That was supposed to allow for electronic registration within weeks or days.[nbsp][nbsp]Will have to check the status of that I guess.

Joe
~ever feel it'd be easier to hire a full time
net and intellectual property attorney?~