How to copyright

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was introduced in 1886 and consequently accepted by most countries of the world. Victor Hugo instigated the development of an international agreement to respect the right of the author, in contrast to the English/American idea of protecting only the exploitation of works with their copyright regulations. Under this widely accepted convention, all the creative works are automatically copyrighted the very moment the author finished it, recorded it on some physical medium, written it down or painted on canvas, it's all the same, the creator or author does not need to register anywhere or apply for a copyright somewhere, he owns all existing and to be invented copyrights to the work and any derivative works, unless he explicitly disclaims them or the copyright expires.

 

Therefore it is unnecessary to register anywhere in order to achieve copyright.
Nevertheless, the United States, being the country with most lawyers per capita, had to go their own way and create the United States Copyright Office, where people, predominantly from the United States, may register their works for a moderate fee. This Copyright Office is an independent department of the Library of Congress and the Library gets to host all the copyrighted material the Office receives.

Of course is the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office up to date with the filing system, allowing for an online registration by using the Electronic Copyright Office and of course your credit card. It prides itself to be the fastest procedure for copyrights, which may be true, since that it is the only place available to register copyrights with a government office.

 

This is another example how America is charging for something which is essentially free and for which you do not have to be charged in Europe.

Nevertheless, some authors and composers feel that their unique creative work is privy to being ripped off by someone. Therefore they feel better to pay good money to get a paper saying their work is registered. Being that the legislative regulations mostly follow the money, it is really questionable how far this registration would help, in case of an infringement.

There is also still the registration in a hardcopy form, which can be downloaded from the website or bought at some designated stores in the US - the copyright kit - which can be used to send in the whole registration plus the work to be registered or moreover a copy of the work to be registered, together with the forms and the payment attached to the application.

Copyright © 2008 Copyright