In a previous post we mentioned that formally registering your copyright for a work you’ve created with the US Copyright Office (or equivalent, in other relevant jurisdictions) makes sound business sense - especially if there’s any possibility that you’ll have to defend that copyright against impostors in court.

Interestingly, a quick online search will reveal that there are many other services out there offering to do all the work of registering the copyright with the US Copyright Office on your behalf - for a fee. But be careful! Check out what you will actually receive for your money before you pay a single cent.

In addition, some of these companies market themselves as alternatives to the US Copyright Office and imply that securely registering your documents with their storage system offers almost equivalent legal protection.

Caveat Emptor! This protection is by no means certain and you should carefully evaluate these claims by talking to your own legal representatives before signing up with copyright registration in mind.
It may also be worth to talking to some of their customers who’ve had to fight copyright infringement law suits and find out exactly how useful the 3rd party service turned out to be.   

With the above in mind let’s take a brief look at five businesses operating in these areas.

Website: https://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/
1) Writers Guild of America, West was extablished in 1927 and describes itself as:

“home to more than 9,500 of Hollywood’s leading TV and screenwriters, but you do not need to be a WGAW member to use this vital Guild service. Registration can be used as a supplement to a U.S. copyright, and it’s fast, easy and convenient to register online.”

Website: http://www.worldwideocr.com/
2) This is the “Worldwide Online Creators Registry” which, according to its Contact page, is based in Canada. Using their ‘SEAL’ service they aim to provide what they refer to as “instant and highly effective third party evidence of ownership in minutes.”

The testimonials page shows a number of clients from the music and video entertainment worlds.

Website: http://www.dulynoted.co.uk/
3) This United Kingdom-registered company is based in London and, to paraphrase their copy, was started by creatives for creatives. Wow! People earning a living creatively - we’re sure they’d feel right at home with our very own ‘ZOOGGIE the Buffer Egg’!

In addition to offering an online third party copyright registration service, they also help creatives with data backup and even company registration services.

Website: http://www.protectrite.com/
4) Back in California, we find ‘Protectrite’ whose modus operandi is to:

“Instantly establish the date and time-of-creation of all your files,
including screenplays, proposals, Web pages, treatments, inventions,
lyrics and ideas.”

It’s instructive to study the FAQ on this site as they candidly describe the basic difference between officially registering your copyright with the US Copyright office compared to using Protectrite or their competitors.

Website: http://www.clickandcopyright.com/
5) Here’s a company who will do the actual filing of your copyright registration with the US Copyright office. They can do individual submissions or multiple (based on an annual plan) which may be convenient for people who are very creative.

As their business model is to go direct to the government’s copyright office, you can learn a lot about the pros and cons of this approach versus the third party registration one by carefully reading their FAQs and online articles.

Sincerely GollyGoose Team

Poor man’s copyright’s been around for years - you can tell that from the gender-bias in the name alone! The reason it’s still with us today is mainly due to a mixture of urban myth and practical necessity.

The myth lives on because there are always some people who believe in the possible legal protection afforded by claiming “poor man’s copyright.” What they’re hoping for is to demonstrate physical proof that the created work was in their possession on a specific date. For many people this means sending the original work by registered mail to their own address - so that the official date stamp on the received package becomes a kind of ‘official’ witness.

At first glance this seems like a smart, inexpensive and hassle-free move. As long as you don’t open the package (and remember that registered mail has a confirmed date of receipt) then surely there’s now a strong case for when exactly the work first existed?

The problem is, that in the beady eyes of the copyright lawyers, sending something to yourself doesn’t definitely prove when (or even if) YOU created the work in the first place. A rival may claim to have created the actual work long before you - but simply kept it unpublished. In that case, which one of you is the true copyright holder?

We mentioned in a previous post that copyright protection exists from the instant your work is created. (This applies to most works but you should always check the copyright laws in your country of jurisdiction for exceptions.)

However, in cases of alleged copyright infringement (think: “he stole my script”) the legal eagles are often most interested in when exactly the copyright was officially registered with… you guessed it, the relevant copyright authority in each country!

Step forward the US Copyright office and this quote from a FAQ list on their website:

“I’ve heard about “poor man’s copyright. What is it?”
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.”
(Source: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html)

As you can see, the US government’s is implying that poor man’s copyright is exactly that - a poor choice over formal registration of copyright. It’s also a weak link in your legal armor if you have someday had to use the copyright laws to try and defend your copyright in court.

For readers in America this may seem to downplay the relevance of poor man’s copyright. As always, do your own due diligence before deciding whether to use it or not.

Just to add an alternative and international flavor to the discussion, here’s what the UK Copyright office had to say about poor man’s copyright (although they avoid using the term in this quote.)

“Additionally, a creator could send himself or herself a copy by special delivery post (which gives a clear date stamp on the envelope), leaving the envelope unopened on its return (ensuring you also know what is inside each envelope in case you do this more than once). Alternatively you could lodge your work with a bank or solicitor.  It is important to note, that this does not prove that a work is original or created by you. But it may be useful to be able to show the court that the work was in your possession at a particular date.”

(Source: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-about/c-auto.htm)

To summarize, we would say this about the subject of poor man’s copyright.

- Using it is not a replacement for formal copyright registration.

- Using it as part of a strategy to document ALL aspects of the creative process (drafts, memos, faxes, emails, beta versions etc) is probably a wise approach. Somehow we doubt that Steven Spielsberg goes down this path but for aspiring newcomers it might be worth considering.

Watch out for an upcoming post where we’ll discuss some of the alternative or complementary offerings to formal copyright registration.  

GollyGoose Team

Let’s get straight to the point. If you’ve written, composed, sculpted, crafted or painted an original work then, the copyright’s already yours under the laws of many civilized nations.

However, Dear Readers, please note that the team here at GollyGoose is not a legal authority on copyright or Intellectual Property law - we hire our own counsel whenever that’s necessary. So, whether you are buying or selling via the GollyGoose platform, it’s very important that you also do your own copywriting research before bidding for or offering an item listed on the site.

Obviously we encourage everyone to follow the law of the land and only buy or sell legitimate content. (For products listed on Gollygoose.com this means the laws of the State of California; see our terms and conditions for details).

We understand that beginners often find the whole idea of copyright to be very confusing. However, you can learn a lot in an hour or two by doing some online research.
 
And to help speed things up, here are two highly recommended sites that include lots of understandable information on copyright registration and protection.

Note that we provide these links as educational information only and GollyGoose.com cannot be responsible for your use of them.

Site #1: United States Copyright Office

OK, let’s start off with the United States Copyright Office. Their website is http://www.copyright.gov/ where you’ll find a ton of free information on what copyright actually is and how to register yours for a variety of products types.

Check out the FAQ and learn more about what types of works are protected, who can claim copyright and how to secure a copyright. An important point is that your copyright is secured from the moment the work is created (but not necessarily published).

You don’t have to register with the US Copyright Office (or your equivalent body for works created outside the US) to secure the copyright but it’s highly advantageous to do so if you want to defend your copyright from infringement through the legal system. Bear that in mind as you check out the services from organizations offering (for a fee) to register your copyright with the US Copyright Office or foreign equivalents.

Bottom line: You can register the copyright yourself if you fill in the forms, send the obligatory copies and pay the fee. Or you can pay a 3rd party to do all this for you.

For works published in the US it probably makes most sense to register your copyright with the US Copyright Office. Works created and published elsewhere should consider using the relevant copyrighting registration service in that country.

Another useful resource linked to from the US Copyright office website is this flash animation titled “Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright”. You can find it at the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/
Although written for teachers and students, anyone new to copyright law can benefit from watching it.

Site #2: The United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Office

Right, let’s zip across the ‘Pond’ and check out the United Kingdom’s copyrighting website: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

Where we find, in true British style, that they’ve set up an “Intellectual Property Office” website.

This is actually very educational as it allows us to point out that Intellectual Property (IP) rights cover more than just copyright. The three others discussed on that website are Designs, Patents and Trademarks. Look out for some future blog posts from us on these too.

More on this coming soon…

GollyGoose Team