11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Fast, Easy, FREE Way to Copyright Your Materials

by Nickolie0990
9 replies
Hey, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and I hope you all have a wonderful and very profitable 2010. A while ago, I was asked by a one of my subscribers, "Do I copyright my material", this is because I generally put copyright symbol at the bottom of my sale pages.

So, This is how I do it, for free. I use a site called MyFreeCopyright.com: FREE Copyright Protection

I think the URL explains it pretty well. This way, if something were to happen, and somebody claims something, I have documented proof. Anyway, Just though it would be a good idea for everybody to know about it.
#copyright #easy #fast #free #materials
  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    Though the idea is good in prinicple I don't think giving any company fingerprints is a good idea..
    Any work done should contain the © notice and include it in the disclaimer that is legal proof enough but if you need to go the extra mile you can always print your creation stuff it in an envelops and mail it to yourself .don't open it but that is physical proof. There are too many downsides to this copyright site. the site could go down your stuff is lost. they have your fingerprints could be used for anything. just MO

    -WD
    Signature

    "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1541411].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      That site strikes me as a little misleading, especially with their use of the term "registered." Your copyright may be registered with that site, but that is not the equivalent to registering it with the Copyright Office. As such, you won't have the actual legal protections of a registered copyright because your copyright isn't legally registered.

      Since they are a third party, maybe that might give you some evidence that you created a work on such and such a date, but we'd really need to hear from a copyright attorney on that. It's possible server logs and such could provide equally valid evidence that something was created on a certain date. You might try to change the date on a file on your own computer, but it's going to be hard to change the dates on your webhost's server or change the date Google indexed your site, etc.

      Originally Posted by WD Products View Post

      Though the idea is good in prinicple I don't think giving any company fingerprints is a good idea.
      You're not actually giving them your fingerprints. The "fingerprint" is just a hash that provides a unique identifier to your work.

      ...but if you need to go the extra mile you can always print your creation stuff it in an envelops and mail it to yourself .don't open it but that is physical proof.
      That's called a "poor man's copyright" and it really doesn't offer you any solid proof. You could have mailed an empty envelope to yourself and stuff something in it at a later date. Even if you do the envelope backwards so that the postmark is stamped across the seal, who is to say that you didn't send the envelope unsealed or loosely sealed and reseal it at a later date?
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1542692].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
        Hmm,
        Hi Dan,

        First of all the copyright as stated by law is already in place as soon as the work is done by the author. however poor mans copyright is a us term I am in canada. it is still useful for proving original authorship as well is dropping it off in a safety deposit box or an attorney for that matter.

        The Buenos Aires Convention was a treaty signed by most North and South American countries, which allows for protection of all creative works as long as they contain a notice informing that the creator claims copyright on it. The Buenos Aires Convention also instituted the shorter term rule, where the length of the copyright term for the work in a country was whichever was shorter - the length of the term in the source country, or the protecting country of the work.

        The Berne Convention was developed at the instigation of Victor Hugo of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale. Under the Convention, copyrights for creative works are automatically in force upon their creation without being asserted or declared. An author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the Convention. As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work and to any derivative works, unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them or until the copyright expires. Foreign authors are given the same rights and privileges to copyrighted material as domestic authors in any country that signed the Convention.
        so I don't understand where's the conflict here?

        The fact is as soon as I write something it is copyright if i say copyright.all rights reserved. it is simple. also have it in your disclaimer if an owner of a website that is legal. not sure what your meaning is

        -WD
        Signature

        "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543051].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
          Originally Posted by WD Products View Post

          so I don't understand where's the conflict here?

          The fact is as soon as I write something it is copyright if i say copyright.all rights reserved. it is simple. also have it in your disclaimer if an owner of a website that is legal. not sure what your meaning is
          It is slightly different in the U.S. Under current copyright law, a notice is not required. Copyright is secured upon creation of a work. However, inclusion of a copyright notice is recommended.

          Additionally, you can register your work with the Copyright Office. This grants you a registered copyright.

          With a registered copyright, you can sue for statutory damages and attorney's fees, so long as the work was registered prior to infringement. Without a registered copyright, you cannot sue for statutory damages and attorney's fees.

          So, in the U.S., a registered copyright is different from a "regular" copyright. So, when this "free" copyright site uses the word "registration", I think that could be misleading, especially for people not familiar with U.S. copyright law. It's explained in their FAQ, but I just wonder how many people will "register" their copyright with that site, only to discover (perhaps the hard way), that their copyright isn't registered in the sense they thought it was.
          Signature

          Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

          Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543094].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
            Well,

            I would not personally use any third party and as i just edited in the previous post you have plenty to stand on registered or not there is no and cannot be any requirement for regstering copyright is immediately in place that means try and take my work and you can be sued with or without registration.

            Same as a trade mark trademarks do not need to be registered either just claimed and that is legal as well. I was just askin because it seemed you were saying that unless registered copyright means nothing when in actual fact it means everything.

            -WD
            Signature

            "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543103].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Shoaib
      Originally Posted by WD Products View Post

      downsides to this copyright site. the site could go down your stuff is lost. they have your fingerprints could be used for anything. just MO

      -WD
      They're creating digital fingerprints from your files/data. They're not asking for fingerprints from the fingers on your hands!

      Sorry, just had to clear that up.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543164].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    A clever but fairly misleading AdSense site and lead generator.

    Provides a relatively useless but nonetheless appealing service
    to those with unfounded and ultimately meaningless concerns
    about topics they don't really understand and fear...

    ...namely copyright infringement.

    Which... approximately ZERO of the people this site targets
    are in any way prepared to litigate successfully.
    Signature
    Brian McLeod
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543338].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
      Yeah I did not realize that... naieve still i guess:confused: I have a fingerprint reader so i just went oh yeah right. thanks for that

      -WD
      Signature

      "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1543513].message }}

Trending Topics