The Poor man Copyright .

The poor man Copyright  is just what it sounds like: a way to protect your intellectual property on the cheap. You may wonder why you want to be bothered with Copyrights until you’re a famous million-dollar-selling author.  Well, let it be said that, “He who does not lavish himself shall remain without.” In other words one should not be miserly when it comes to one’s self-worth or they’ll be broke in the end. For cheap is as cheap does.

When I first chose to endeavor into writing my first full novel — Who Am I? The Chronicles of Cain –, I was serving disciplinary time in FCI Gilmer.  Once I decided to write the book, my first thought was “how do I protect my beloved workmanship?”

For as anyone whoever has written a book, novella or short story, they know that being a wordsmith takes a vast amount of time and effort to come to fruition. An author’s words, therefore, are priceless, so you have to protect your intellectual property. But the question remains “What should you do?”

Common sense should always be your guide in situations such as this, especially in a world full of conniving thieves. Believe it or not there are many cases which arise in court everyday over intellectual property. For example, although it may not be the genre of most African American writers, nevertheless, the Harry Potter fantasy series by JK Rowling has seen its fair share of battles within the courtroom since its first series release on June 30^th, 1997. I remember it well: it was the year of my downfall.

Although Rowlings prevailed in all instances (having long-money doesn’t hurt when fighting a case), she has had her formidable opponents. One of the most nefarious being Nancy Stouffer, followed by the money hungry Wyrd (pronounced weird) Sisters who both used some foul tactics in trying to prove their cases. See reference articles here and here to see what I mean.

One can also further look into the beef between Terri Woods and Kwame Teagues who is the real author who penned the most successful street novel Dutch, which sold millions in African American communities across the land. See more on Terri woods Message Board on AllReaders.com.

Speaking for myself, this is proof enough that there is more beef going on in the publishing industry than there is on a Mickey D’s menu in Manhattan. Moving forward we must ask ourselves as a writer, “Am I willing to put everything on the line just to save a buck?”

Conventional Copyrighting can be as cheap as $35 from the US Copyright Office; $2 for US Postage including the price of a large envelope. However, if you go to a site such as LegalZoom.com you will pay nearly four times the amount for their services, rather than just pushing a button and emailing the US Copyright Office a MS Word file or other popular format. Just Remember don’t let your lazy pointer finger cost you a whole lot of cash for you may possibly end up needing it for advertising in the long run. Yes, I hate to say it. But, even authors who get a signing deal still often have to promote their own work.

The Poor man Copyright

According to Wikipedia “Poor man’s copyright is a method of using registered dating by the postal service,[1] a notary public or other highly trusted source to date intellectual property, thereby helping to establish that the material has been in one’s possession since a particular time. The concept is based on the notion that, in the event that such intellectual property were to be misused by a third party, the poor-man’s copyright would at least establish a legally recognized date of possession before any proof which a third party may possess.

The PMC was originally used by authors who sent copies of their own work to themselves through the mail without opening the envelopes in the hope that it would grant them legal protection by establishing a date at which the work was created. Use of this method may not hold up in a court as it is simple for individuals to pre-send envelopes which can then be used later by placing the materials inside.

In countries with no central copyright registration authority, it can be difficult for an author to prove when their work was created. The United Kingdom Patent Office says this:

… a copy could be deposited with a bank or solicitor. Alternatively, a creator could send himself or herself a copy by special delivery post (which gives a clear date stamp on the envelope), leaving the envelope unopened on its return. A number of private companies operate unofficial registers, but it would be sensible to check carefully what you will be paying for before choosing this route. It is important to note, that this does not prove that a work is original or created by you…” See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_man’s_copyright for more info on the subject matter.

Being a bit sarcastic as I normally am, my recommendation for newbie writers such as myself is to completely forget about this method. You would be better off posting your writings on Facebook and sharing it with your friends as witnesses if all one would need is a time stamp to prove one’s work in court.

For if one were to even loosely-interpret  Wikipedia, one can easily purview that under close scrutiny by a heavily burdened court system, some shiest well-paid lawyers and a plagiarist — with fatter pockets full of cash than yours — could easily persuade a court to rule in their favor if he/she were to go about Copyrighting in a more judicious manner.

In other words don’t go cheap-PMC or you could easily find yourself screwed over. Many federal courts do not hold to the Berne Convention, which protects the rights of authors throughout the world in all countries who have signed on to it. The doctrine establishes a person’s right to ownership as soon as the originator’s ideas are expressed in a tangible form.

However, the US signed onto the agreement in 1988 yet several circuit courts hold fast to the doctrine that one cannot sue for infringement until he/she has completed the full registration process. In other words simply submitting the form without prior approval will not protect your rights as the creator of your intellectual property. Nevertheless, if your work was published before 1978, you would be protected as soon as your work is officially published by a valid company.

Wikipedia states under the article entitled Copyright Registration that “It is a common misconception to confuse copyright registration with the granting of copyright. The difference being the first is an application for the rights under the copyright laws and the latter are actual rights bestowed upon an individual for the ownership of said work.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_registration.

Knowingly, “…The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event of a legal claim or  case of infringement or plagiarism, the copyright owner can produce a copy of the work from an official government source.”

Warning, take heed and do things the right way. Today even the Big Boys on the block are inside the courtrooms hashing it out. It is alleged by HBO that well known companies such as Bantam Books are Houghton Mifflin are trying to weasel Time Warner [parent company to HBO] out of their intellectual property by reproducing their works verbatim. One online source quotes an intern named Alena — who discovered the alleged plagiarized work concerning HBO’s Game of Thrones Saga while shopping over the weekend — openly stated, “And these books are everywhere — Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart. Those bastards didn’t bother to change the character names, the settings, or the dialog,” Alena fumed. “They only altered the title…something stupid and pretentious like ‘Fire and Ice Music.’ I’ve never seen such hubris, but this could ruin us. Anyone with the fortitude to shop at Walmart now has access to the next four years of ‘Thrones’…before the episodes have even been filmed.” See original article at, http://www.benningtonvalepress.com/2012/04/hbo-files-series-of-lawsuits-in.html.

It seems that nowadays with the lack of original ideas floating around that plagiarism is as common as an overly obese fat man farting loudly at a hillbilly barbecue drinking Budweiser in the hills of Kentucky. As far as Time Warner is concerned the alleged culprits are obviously  guilty as the long nose on Pinnochio’s lying face.

Therefore take heed and protect yourself. Read, research and relate the facts or you too may end up in a bowl of sour soup ready to be eaten by the pigs of the industry completely devoured by the stench of a dirty word called plagiarism. I strongly suggest that you familiarize yourself with the US Copyright laws under Title 17 of the United States Code, Chapters 1201-1205. See http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap12.html