I got the following e-mail today:
"Dear Affiliates, As someone who has in the past signed up for the firstwriter.com affiliate program, we thought you might be interested to hear about a new affiliate program suitable for sites, like ours, which serve creative individuals. The IP Rights Office is promoting the importance of copyright registration, and are offering $10 for every new registrant referred to their copyright registration website. You can sign up to their affiliate program at: http://www.copyrightregistrationservice.com/affiliates/ For more links, ads, and search boxes for the firstwriter.com affiliate program go to: http://www.firstwriter.com/affiliates/ Kind regards, firstwriter.com Affiliate Program"
Now this whole thing sounded odd to me. I like to think I'm pretty well versed in U.S. copyright law. I don't know a lot about other countries, but as a U.S. publisher and writer I made it a point to get to know the official U.S. Copyright Office website.
The site looks formal enough, but it's obviously not a government site as it ends in .com and not .gov. The site asks you to pay $45 and upload your book for registration. But then you start to read the fine print in their agreement, which includes the following:
The IP Rights Office does not assert or confirm that the material registered by the Registrant is capable of being protected by Copyright Law and it is the Registrant's responsibility to ensure that they own an enforceable copyright prior to registration. No liability can be accepted nor refunds made if the Registrant registers a work not covered by copyright.
Now they are selling you a service which they advertise as "Registering your work provides copyright protection in all nations which are signatories to the Berne Convention." But their actual AGREEMENT says they don't guarantee that they actually provide any protection.
Again, I don't know the laws of other countries, but in the U.S. the ONLY LEGAL way to register your work is directly with the U.S. Copyright Office. While registration is not required, it affords a variety of additional protections. But it MUST be handled directly with the copyright office. Not a third party. All this site is doing is charging you $45 every 4 years to store a copy of your work. This is no different than the proverbial "Poor Man's Copyright" in which you mail a copy of the work to yourself. It is not a valid means of copyrighting your work. It even specifically says so at the Copyright.gov site.
If you are a U.S. author and want to copyright your work, DO NOT use this service. It has no legal standing in the U.S. You must instead register with the U.S. copyright office at www.copyright.gov This is the only way to ensure that your work is in fact properly protected.
Also note, this service charges you $45 for only a 4-year registration, and then you have to re-register. However, copyright law protects you for your life PLUS 70 years. There is no need to re-register every 4 years. If you register with the copyright office, the $45 is a one-time fee. You do not need to pay it every 4 years in order to protect your work.
I don't know enough about copyright law in other nations to know whether or not this service is of any value, but to writers in the U.S. it is 100% useless and a waste of money.
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Comments: 18
vjw
This reminds me of a commercial that sold a baseball with the name of a famous baseball player on it.
It was guaranteed "officially unofficial."
What a scam.
Help me get a publishing deal with a 10 rating and comment. I comment back.
So be especially careful if you've recently published or registered something.
"Unfortunately we have no way of knowing what they are doing. We are
the only US Copyright Office in the country. However there are many 3rd
party companies that will for a fee submit your material to our office
for you. Perhaps they are trying to provide a service such as that.
If they are trying to say they are an alternative to our office then you
might want to contact the Justice Department and let them know so that
the FBI can investigate them."
When the e-mail suggests that you contact the Justice Dept., I'd say that was political-speak for "These scam artists need to all be hung out to dry, but I can't actually say that because of legal liability."
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Guess what Julie's NEXT STEP is?
Your English professor was wrong. The "Poor Man's Copyright" hold no weight with the law. It even says so right on the official copyright.gov site! All mailing a copy to yourseld does is show you had a copy on the date. This is a myth that people continue to spread without actually looking up the facts.