A
Apple
New member
What are some of the alternatives to actually copyrighting a work prior to sending it out? It's 30 dollars and a 2 month wait if you use the Copyright office.
Gidge
Lapdance Test Dummy
Its 30 well spent...and you can get more than one work in for the same $30......
and your copyright is covered from the day they recieve it, no matter how long it takes them to process it......
and your copyright is covered from the day they recieve it, no matter how long it takes them to process it......
G
gascap
New member
Actually, I think it's covered from the day you mail it - but I may be wrong. Either way, it's not 2 months - or in my case closer to 11 by the time I got the form back.
hixmix
Halibut, North Dakota
gascap said:
...If you send it registered mail.
J
jokinjoe
New member
gidge is right, spend the $30. Keep a copy of all the forms and whatever form you use to submit your song(tape, cd, sheet music). You can copyright all of your songs at once by sending them as a collection then on the continuation form list the individual titles.
Checkout their website http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ for current prices, rules, forms... last time I was there they had a notice to send stuff via fedex or ups because the post office wasn't delivering to any dc gov office, but that was during the anthrax scare. I think you can even check your status to see when they got it.
But watch out for the mail scams you'll be getting promising to make you a star
Checkout their website http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ for current prices, rules, forms... last time I was there they had a notice to send stuff via fedex or ups because the post office wasn't delivering to any dc gov office, but that was during the anthrax scare. I think you can even check your status to see when they got it.
But watch out for the mail scams you'll be getting promising to make you a star
A
Apple
New member
poor man's copyright
Thanks for the responses. Invaribably, I think of a better line the day I mail off the copyright materials. Still would be nice if there was a workable version of the "poor man's copyright" . Which, was sending a registered letter to yourself with the copyright materials. I'm not sure if that held up in court. Anyone?
Thanks for the responses. Invaribably, I think of a better line the day I mail off the copyright materials. Still would be nice if there was a workable version of the "poor man's copyright" . Which, was sending a registered letter to yourself with the copyright materials. I'm not sure if that held up in court. Anyone?
D
DCMaguire
New member
You do NOT have to register your copyright. Your legal copyright exists from the moment you fix the work in written or recorded form. Just put the copyright notice on every copy of your lyrics or every tape.
To REGISTER your copyright, you must fill out the forms and pay the $30. A cheaper way is to compile a bunch of songs together under a common title (ie. "The Songs of Joe Jones, Vol 1"). That way, you only pay the one $30, but the entire collection is registered (shoudl you ever need to single out one of the songs later, there are forms for that, too).
Your copyright is protected by law, whether or not you register it. If you were ever ripped off, you would probably not be able to collect any damages unless you had your copyright registered (the court would still uphold your copyright and wopuld havew the violator cease and desist, but you usually can't collect $$ damages unless the work is rewgistered), but in the real world this happens so rarely as to be not really worth worrying about.
Just mark your songs with the notice. If you get a publisher to take a song, they'll do all that paperwork for you.
DCM
To REGISTER your copyright, you must fill out the forms and pay the $30. A cheaper way is to compile a bunch of songs together under a common title (ie. "The Songs of Joe Jones, Vol 1"). That way, you only pay the one $30, but the entire collection is registered (shoudl you ever need to single out one of the songs later, there are forms for that, too).
Your copyright is protected by law, whether or not you register it. If you were ever ripped off, you would probably not be able to collect any damages unless you had your copyright registered (the court would still uphold your copyright and wopuld havew the violator cease and desist, but you usually can't collect $$ damages unless the work is rewgistered), but in the real world this happens so rarely as to be not really worth worrying about.
Just mark your songs with the notice. If you get a publisher to take a song, they'll do all that paperwork for you.
DCM
P
Peter D
New member
I second all the folks who have said there is no workable alternative to registering the copyright. While affixing the copyright notice to everything you send out will establish ownership in the best case scenario, few such scenarios ever play out in a business where there's money at stake.
Having been involved as a witness and/or legal assistant in a number of copyright infringement cases for a 15 year period, I can tell you without a doubt that failing to register a copyright before submitting a song to publishers, managers and or recording artists is asking to be punched in the face.
It's not so much a question of whether you will prevail on your common law copyright claim in the end, but how much it's going to cost you to do so. As DCMaguire correctly points out, you can't recover damages in common law copyright cases. Common law plaintiffs often find themselves winning a case, but owing thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and costs out of pocket with nothing to show for it, but ownership of a song which may not have any further use for generating income.. But, in statutory ( having a registered copyright) cases you can not only recover damages for lost profits, costs, and attorneys fees, but the court may assess civil fines of up to $10,000 per infringement.
Having been involved as a witness and/or legal assistant in a number of copyright infringement cases for a 15 year period, I can tell you without a doubt that failing to register a copyright before submitting a song to publishers, managers and or recording artists is asking to be punched in the face.
It's not so much a question of whether you will prevail on your common law copyright claim in the end, but how much it's going to cost you to do so. As DCMaguire correctly points out, you can't recover damages in common law copyright cases. Common law plaintiffs often find themselves winning a case, but owing thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and costs out of pocket with nothing to show for it, but ownership of a song which may not have any further use for generating income.. But, in statutory ( having a registered copyright) cases you can not only recover damages for lost profits, costs, and attorneys fees, but the court may assess civil fines of up to $10,000 per infringement.