Internet copyrights?

[MissMary]

It was a fairly recent People's Court and the reason he lost is because when you take your case out of your State like this guy did then the Federal law trumped the State Law so he lost. So, you may win in your state because of the state laws but if the defendant wants to take it higher, then the Federal law will take effect which is where it says that you need to have your stuff registered if you are going to file suit.

Angi

There are no state laws or federal laws for copyrighting. There are no state copyright laws, because copyrighting is handled by the federal government. I mentioned local cases as a jurisdiction, meaning it was usually settled in a smaller court. It's a basic form of proving that you created X by X date, which then can be pulled from a notary's book to provide further proof, in the way I mentioned.

There are no laws on the books on having to have copyright to show proof of creation. twocentsworth beat me to posting the very reference you cited.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wccc

That site will give you more info that's relevant, such as:

"In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection.

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright."

It's more or less 'here's when WE got the paperwork'. It also doesn't necessarily protect your copyright. Some people have copyrighted items and still lost case in court, versus others who could prove that they created the item before the other guy could prove it.

A notary provides the same establishment of public record and quite a bit cheaper.

So it's always better to ask, regardless of whether you know it's filed at a copyright office or not, because it's still someone else's work.

[marika]

Late night summed it up perfectly

Unless it is out of copyright or you bought the rights, don't use it

What goes around comes around

Mari

(published author, artist, photographer)

[Di_in_AZ]

Bottom line, I seriously doubt there are any lawyers on this thread (I know we have one lawyer here and I haven't seen her post recently)--you absolutely need to check your local law and local attorney to get accurate information.

Remember when you come to a message board on the internet, you are getting the legal advice from the people who frequent this board, none of whom you can verify their credentials--most who have careers other than lawyers. They get their information from internet search, some from experience in their state, which may not be applicable to you. Take it for what it is worth and be safe and get accurate, verifiable information especially when you are talking insurance, copyright, etc.--anything that will garner you a large fine if you take the wrong advice. Stating in a court of law that so-and-so off the board told me this, will not get you anywhere.