gtrplaya,
bdbdbuck and the others have given some very sound advice. If you use a registered return-receipt requested letter - with the music/claim information on the reverse side - it WILL stand up in court! But only if you have that very vital information inscribed! If you ever need to use it to defend your copyright claim, you’re in for one hell of a court ordeal because the damned lawyers haven’t a clue about what the firepower of registered receipted mail really is. Mainly because of the apparent contradiction of mailing to yourself - which is totally worthless.
But the incidences are TWO entirely different things. By law, who ever actually receives and receipts mail, specifically but not limited to copyrights, patents, trade marks, etcetera, is a due AGENT of that agency, and their signature/mark on a receipt describing the delivery will stand up in court. The problem with mailing to yourself is, the potential compromise of the package. A person could mail themselves a series of envelopes, let them stew for as long as necessary, and then insert a song sheet when ever they want. Can do. All it takes is a pair of knitting needles fused together at one end, slip the paperwork between the needles and wrap it around, insert the whole thing into the envelope via any corner opening, unwind and remove the needles. That’s why mail-to-yourself is worthless and the stamped receipt has weight.
There IS another way to protect your works … and it will support a copyright should there ever be a question other than obvious plagiarism. Get a copy NOTARIZED and then FILE IT WITH THE COUNTY CLERK! And what good is that? By law (again), documents filed with the County/Parish Clerk instantly become PUBLIC RECORD, and all courts, regardless of jurisdiction, MUST give them Judicial Notice! They cannot be suppressed from evidence. We’ve done it several times and ended jackass claims long before the expense of lawyer and courts. You will still need a copyright, but this little legal trick is a damned good stop-gap, especially if you need to move with your material. Motion picture re-writes, etcetera, are done this way all the time.
As for the Copyright Office, if you’re waiting for them, I hope you have some genes from Methuselah so you’ll live long enough! That place is loaded with the dumbest bunch of must-hires I’ve ever seen. We had a THREE YEAR fight because the dumb ass handling our claim didn’t know what a publishing company was - and kept sending it back! And this was BEFORE 9/11. When I finally had enough, I brought hell itself down on the Registrar & Cronies, and my paperwork turned around in about two hours following ignition.
TDA