[HANASHIR:2643] Re: copyright

[MARS <regnadk...>]

Rachelle --

I am an attorney, although I don't get involved much in copyright law.  The
basic principle (in the US, at least), is that whoever creates a work in a
fixed form first has the right to that work.  There is no obligation to
register a copyright, although registration can help prove first use if
there's a later dispute.  In the event of a dispute between persons claiming
the rights to an unregistered work, certainly having some proof of first
publishing the work would be useful.

The U.S. Copyright Office has information available at its web site,
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/.

I hope that's helpful.

Rob Weissman
-----Original Message-----
From: Rachelle and Howard Shubert <shubert (at) internauts(dot)ca>
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 7:59 PM
Subject: [HANASHIR:2642] copyright


>If the budding songwriter who wrote in is interested in a cheap and
>effective way of dating her composition, I have been told that simply
>writing it, putting it in a sealed envelope and sending it to yourself
>registered mail might hold up legally.  Keep the unopened envelope for any
>time in the future you might need to prove that you wrote the song first.
>
>I think it is important to note, also, that copyright laws differ from one
>country to the next.  I believe it is possible to get  a publication on
>copyright from the Canadian government or organizations such as SOCAN.
>
>Any legal eagles out there to tell me if this is correct?
>
>Rachelle
>
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