Copyright: Register- and boost your remedies!

seehttp://www.copyright.org

To register your copyright, send the Copyright Office:
1. A copy of your work (or photographs, if it's bulky visual art): two copies if the work has been published.
2. An application form - check the website for the appropriate form.
3. The registration fee ($45 per registration as of July 2006).

For Software (yes, code is protectable expression!) : deposit the first 25 and last 25 pages of code. Here is a tip..as "first" and "last" are oftn up to the discretion of the software author, make sure your depositied pages do not contain element you consider "trade secret"...(more on this in Trade Secret section...coming soon)

A registered copyright gives you more firepower if you ever have to sue anyone for infringement;* specifically, you can collect helfty statutory damages, as well as your attorneys' fees (which will often amount to much more than the damages). To gain those advantages, you need to register your work within three months aafter publication.

It's been estimated that only about 20 or 25 percent of all eligible works are actually registered. Clearly, you don't want to register every little scribble (the fees do add up), but if you have anything you think may be valuable, registration is certainly worthwhile.

A big note: Be very clear on this: Your copyright protects your particular expression of your idea, not your idea. You wrote a short story about an archaeology professor who has wild adventures, and two years later Paramount made [i]Raiders of the Lost Ark[i/]? Tough! Unless you can prove a) they read your story, and b) the movie that followed was substantially the same in plot, characters, etc., you don't have a claim.

[Stay tuned in this blog series for the analysis of copyright trends in Hollywood: the Jeff Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp. wherein plaintiff alleged "they stole my ideas" . While the hue and cry is not new, the analysis of copyright preemption by contract law (that is federal law as distinct form state law) is worth a read).

*Technically, marking your works with the notice of copyright (the "©" symbol and year of creation) may help eliminate any "innocent infringement" defense by anyone stealing your work--but that's a small legal detail. More importantly, in some arenas (especially, Hollywood) marking your writing with a copyright notification will mark you as an amateur. In sum, you can mark works if you want to, but you risk little if you don't.
Registering will not ever mark you as an amateur...read on and discover the enhanced remedies available to owners of registered copyrighted works.