Many questions about copyrighting are raised by the digital age of cyber publishing and intellectual property. Copyrights are yours even if you have never published anything in your life. How do you know that you own the rights to your work if you publish it? Copyrighting is not hard or complicated. You can copyright any creative work you make in a quick and easy way.
Copyright law in the United States is very kind to people who make new works and own them. Any "original work of authorship" that is "fixed in any tangible medium of expression" gets legal copyright protection right away and automatically.
In other words, you don't need a copyright notice for your work to be legal under U.S. law. For instance, when authors, webmasters, amateur writers, or anyone else sends creative work to be published, that work is automatically protected by copyright. No copyright notice is needed for something to be legal.
The laws are so lenient that any notes or scribbles you make while talking on the phone are considered copyrighted, even if you crumple them up and throw them away when the call is over. This doesn't mean that copyright should be taken lightly. Using a copyright notice is a good idea from a legal point of view.
Copyrights can also be given away, either in whole or in part, but this must be done in writing. The details are way too complicated for this article. Copyright agreements have been made between all authors and publishers, whether they knew it or not.
Copyrighting that is quick and easy:
Usually, there are three parts to a copyright notice. The word "copyright" or the symbol for copyright, the year, and the name of the person who owns the copyright.
Copywritten by (c) 2006 [Your Name or Business Name]
Follow this formula to be in line with current copyright laws and to protect any creative work made on a computer. First, put the copyright notice at the end of the document as shown above. Save your document as a file when you are done making changes.
Lastly, print the whole document with the file name or title and the date. Set your printer to print these, or use your text editor's header and footer options. You can also just type the title, date, and copyright statement by hand if you want to.
For instance: Copyright (c) 2006 Lyle Cochran
Quick and Easy, July 19, 2006, Copyright Procedures
The hard copy that you print out is your Master Document. This document should be kept safe at all costs because it proves that you made the work in question.
Other forms:
If your creative work is on a fixed and tangible medium other than a computer, your handwritten signature and date are usually enough to protect your copyright until you can apply for copyright.
Summary:
I know that the steps outlined here sound too easy, but this is what the US Copyright Office says you should do. This short procedure works and can stand on its own in court. Don't forget that the original date is important and that a hard copy adds a lot of weight to ownership.
You can start copyright procedures online at the United States Copyright Office if you want to make your copyright bulletproof.
