Copyright Laws and Myths by Adrian Milan

Ok, this issue and topic has come up in about 14 different conversations within the last 48 hours. So let me help you all understand how the LAW actually works in this situation.

Here in the United States of America, there is only ONE COPYRIGHT AUTHORITY! And that is "THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!" Which is a GOVERNMENT AGENCY! 

So, if you DO NOT HAVE AN ACTUAL COPYRIGHT FOR YOUR WORK, POEM, MANUSCRIPTS, BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, ART, WORDS, PHRASES OR QUOTES, then they ARE NOT protected under copyright law! 

Just because you put the copyright symbol (©) next to your work, it means NOTHING unless you have sent in a copy of that work to the Library of Congress to be recorded and kept on file within their vaults. Your work is then assigned a registration number which is issued to you in the form of a certificate. That is the only legal proof that this body of work originated from you and gives YOU exclusive rights to it. Registration costs $35.

Now if you do not have a ACTUAL LEGAL COPYRIGHT and you have your work posted somewhere like facebook. And someone decides to steal it and publish it, and they secure a legal copyright first, YOU ARE SCREWED. Even if your facebook page can prove that you wrote and published the work 4 years ago and its been on your page ever since, all the thief has to do is say that they wrote it first and you stole it. It's your word against theirs, which means NOTHING in a court of law. However, the legal copyright that the thief now has, will trump your facebook page, because the copyright is acknowledged by every court to be a legal document of proof provided by a Government agency and is irrefutable proof of ownership for the owner,....in this case the owner is the thief! YOU LOSE! 

So, NO, YOUR POETRY ON FACEBOOK IN YOUR NOTES IS NOT CONSIDERED A LEGAL PUBLICATION PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. WHICH MEANS ANYONE CAN STEAL IT, COPYRIGHT IT, (IF YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE IT COPYRIGHTED) AND THEN PUBLISH IT! AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY SECURED THE COPYRIGHT FIRST!!!! PROTECT YOUR WORK!!! PROTECT YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!! EVERYTHING ELSE IS A LIE! POOR MAN'S COPYRIGHT WILL GET YOU NOTHING!!! PUBLISHING IT FIRST SOMEWHERE ELSE MEANS NOTHING!!! YOU NEED A REAL COPYRIGHT FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WHICH IS THE ONLY GOVERNMENT AGENCY THAT IS AUTHORIZED TO ISSUE U.S. COPYRIGHTS! PERIOD! THAT'S ALL THERE IS, THERE IS NO MORE! 

If you do not know the law, you are allowing yourself to be set up to be someone's victim. This is apart of your craft. This is apart of your business. Learn your craft! Learn your business! - Adrian Milan