Q & A
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com answers your questions about the music industry.
Poor man’s copyright…yet again.
Q.
My son has
been writing for approximately 3 years. He has mailed his works back to
himself as a poor man's copyright, either registered mail, certified mail or
regular mail. We know that registered is probably the best way but are all
of these copyright forms legal? Will they be accepted by courts?-- (Name and
initials withheld)
A. No, no, a thousand times no. Readers, please hear this loud and
clear: Mailing your songs to yourself is NOT acceptable proof of copyright
ownership in the eyes of the courts, and the case won’t even be heard in
court. In other words, you can’t even get into the courtroom to try to prove
your ownership.
In the courts eyes, if your work is truly that important to you, you
properly register your copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office. If you
don’t, they don’t spend time and taxpayer money to hear the case.
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