paddedcell
Doggy Claws
Registering your work with the copyright office creates a legal presumption that you are the creator of the work. This means that someone who challenges the origins of the work must overcome that legal presumption with lots of very convincing evidence. The contesting party then becomes the one that has to do all the work, because the law considers you to be the creator of the work until it is definitely proven otherwise in court.
As others have mentioned, it's really not that likely that someone will steal your stuff, but if that possibility keeps you up at night, spend the $35 and copyright the song. I'm sure I've written over a hundred songs that I've jotted down somewhere, but I've only copyrighted about 15 or 20 that I thought were really good, or that I was shopping around. I'd love it if some major artist ripped off my stuff -- quite besides the ultimate flattery, I'm sure that their attorney and mine could come up with a sweet little settlement (I'm not greedy). . .
But -- I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. . .
As others have mentioned, it's really not that likely that someone will steal your stuff, but if that possibility keeps you up at night, spend the $35 and copyright the song. I'm sure I've written over a hundred songs that I've jotted down somewhere, but I've only copyrighted about 15 or 20 that I thought were really good, or that I was shopping around. I'd love it if some major artist ripped off my stuff -- quite besides the ultimate flattery, I'm sure that their attorney and mine could come up with a sweet little settlement (I'm not greedy). . .
But -- I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. . .