At 10:07 PM 4/3/04, Winship wrote:

>The current U.S. copyright law says that the author retains copyright,
>unless he legally transfers it, from the moment of creation of his
>"original" work for his lifetime plus 70 years, published or not. This is
>not exactly that of the Berne Convention, but it will still apply in all
>countries signatory to the Berne Convention.  It does not matter whether
>the work is "published" or not and there is no need to register the work
>with the Copyright office, though if you are going to file suit for
>infringement doing so would be a good idea.  You'll also need to show
>material harm (largely to income, or future income) in your infringement
>suit, most likely.  Publication of the work does not in itself abrogate
>the copyright.

In the U. S., something is copyright when it is fixed in tangible,
permanent form.
      The important part of the above emphasizes the registration of
copyright (Library of Congress in the U. S.). Everything is copyright on
the date of creation, but to sue for, and receive monetary compensation, it
must be registered. If it is not registered, the most the plaintiff could
hope for is an apology, I guess.


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Elliott Parker                   [log in to unmask]
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Department of Journalism
Central Michigan University
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