Why would you want to apply for your copyright online?
- The cost is lower- $35
- The processing time for your copyright is significantly reduced
- You can check the status of your application online
- In many cases, you can upload your work online, rather than mailing it
This is an important example to use that shows you how the navigation works. Hyperlinks throughout the registration process take you to explanations, or help screens. In order to navigate the process itself, you have to click the buttons at the top that look like the "Back" and "Start Registration" buttons. You use these buttons to add requested information and to successfully save and move on to the next step. Once you start your registration, you are taken to this screen: 
On the left, you will see a list of steps. A red check mark appears in the Completed column as you successfully complete that step. Of course, you can see the navigation buttons at the top to take you from one step to the next.
My experience has been that the process is intuitive and with the extensive help available, pretty easy to navigate. If you have not tried to register your work online, you should. Kudos to the creator of this system. Who knew the US government could create a user friendly system that cuts efficiency and costs? My advice: take the people who designed this system and see if they can do anything to help the other government agencies with their processes.
6 comments:
Yup, it's pretty simple!!
I can't believe that most subsidy/vanity presses charge $150-200 for this service, either.
I know. Now that they can do it online, it adds to their profit margin substantially. It took me 15 minutes to submit my second book. Of course, It took me a little longer the first time because each step was new to me. But I was still done with the process then in less than 30 minutes.
Does anyone know about protecting the copy rights of online material posted through a blog? I would like to share portions of my book before it is publication ready. I would also like to protect the material generated in my blog; it's my way of rough drafting the next book.
Any ideas?
By law, once your words move from your mind to a "printed" platform, you are protected under copyright laws. That includes what you put on a blog. Here are a couple of resources I found that may go to the heart of your issue:
Six Steps to Prevent Content Theft and Combat Copyright Infringement on Your Business Blog (Part 2 - what are you doing?) by AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.
and
Defending Your Site From Scrapers by SEOnotepad.com
You may also be interested in an e-mail exchange I had with the US Copyright Office between 12/5/09 and 12/7/09
My question:
I read this on your FAQs:
Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.
--
If the law says that I have a copyright and my work is protected as soon as it's created, then why is it compulsory to register to bring an infringement lawsuit? If I can only bring an infringement lawsuit if my copyright is registered, it seem that my work is really not copyrighted, therefore protected, without registration. Am I missing something. I value your assistance in helping me to understand the actual point of law on this.
Warmest regards,
Tony Eldridge
Here was their response:
Because registration provides additional benefits to the copyright owner under the law. Registration can serve as prima facie evidence and establishes the facts of the created work in a public record and that record is attested to and certified by the author on the application. And generally, registration within 3 months of publication allows for additional damages such as statutory damages and attorney's fees, otherwise one may only be awarded actual damages in cases of infringement.
For additional information, see Circular 1 at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf .
Thank you.
cfk
I hope this helps.
Another issue to consider (other than the copyright issue I mentioned above) is that many publishers may balk at printing a book that has been substantially shared on a blog before publication. You can read this blog to see that I think there can be a time and place to share books by blogging them, but for most authors who are creating a non-published work and seeking a publisher, it's probably not the best thing to do. I would be more worried about what putting substantial portions of my book on a blog would do to my chances of getting it published than I would be about someone stealing it.
One last point here: In my initial response to the copyright question, I meant to cite this post:
WordPress Plugin to Automatically add Copyright Message to your RSS / ATOM Feeds - Angsuman’s Feed Copyrighter Plugin
but I had many browser tabs opened and grabbed the link/info from this one while multi-tasking:
Defending Your Site From Scrapers by SEOnotepad.com
This one discusses "cloaking" which is something I don't know anything about.
Just an FYI...
Post a Comment