How can I copyright my original work?

1. 60

   Abhimanyu Singh92posted 13 years ago

   How can I copyright my original work?
   
   Is there any legal process required for getting anything copyrighted? Can anyone please explain everything clearly to me?
   
   

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2. 0

   Nick Lucasposted 13 years ago

   Well there is an easy way that holds up in court and is called the poor man's copyright......make sure at the bottom of say an article you put  copyright the date and your name and then print it and mail it to yourself so there is a date on the post makred envelop and do not open it....it would be for the court to open

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3. 71

   drspanielposted 13 years ago

   A website called CopyScape is very effective at protecting your work from being stolen. Here's the link if you're interested, but the protection process does involve you putting the link on every single one of your articles! http://www.copyscape.com/

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4. 76

   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   Poor Man's Copyright does NOT stand up in court. It is useless...It does not work because it is easily faked. I wrote a hub on it:
   
   http://uninvitedwriter.hubpages.com/hub … s-not-work
   
   
   Everything you publish is automatically copyrighted. If someone steals it you can file a DMCA and get it taken down.

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5. 63

   whoisbidposted 13 years ago

   Unless you are rich and influential and have time on your hands to make someone miserable then I would personally forget wasting time on copyright. If you get a rich book publisher to take your stuff and make profits and pay you a commission then you can be happy that the publisher will chase those people instead of you. The problem is the time you have to spend chasing people all over the place and if the article aint worth a million bucks then why bother?  The same applies to patents and intellectual property. Stealing intelligently is now a pastime for many people. Most people don't have a clue how stuff is being stolen every second of the day. Don't take legal advice from the internet if you are losing a ton of money because of someone stealing from you. Get a damn good lawyer instead. Sometimes putting the fear of the law on people will stop them but sometimes it does not if people know how loose the law is and how difficult it is to do anything in a reasonable amount of time.
   People must understand that time is money. Why spend a thousand dollars of your 'time" to get back one dollar? No-one wins in the end. I could not care less anymore and if anyone wants to copy anything I have done they can go ahead because they are doing it already. I see my stuff all over the internet and I don't have time to be running around policing the internet.

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6. 71

   terrektwoposted 13 years ago

   Homemade copyright, place all your materials in a sealed envelope and mail it to yourself.

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7. 67

   barbat79posted 12 years ago

   You must contact the library of congress, or look online.  There is a form, a place to enter your material and you mail it in to the library of congress  See the website for the appropriate address.  There is a small fee..and once it is researched, you receive back your notice of copyright   It is a legal document.  You could receive a portion or all of the material with the notice and informing you of how to separately take care of the remaining material   ie a photo with a story may be counted as 2 items to be researched by the LoC   Good Luck!

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