About Copyrights
By Giovanni Andreazzi
A copyright protects writers from theft of intellectual property. I urge all writers who have a finished, or a near finished work to take the time and minimal expense to apply for a copyright. It is easy. I apply for the copyright and usually obtain it before I even send my finished work to the publisher. This may be even more desirable if you are sending out pieces of your product to prospective buyers. The copyright office has a website that can be used to fill out forms, download the forms, and upload your manuscript. Using the online advantage saves time and money.
The website address is:
If, you would rather fill out the co2d form on line or print it out and mail it in (it will cost $10 more to register by mail), the form and instructions can be accessed by these links.
Once you enter the website, you may go to any of the links for additional information, or click on the big “e” on the top middle of the webpage. You will be directed to a second page where a click on the little “e” takes you to the login page. Once there, you can either login or create a new user account (the pages are depicted below).
A work does not have to be finished to start the copyright process. Your data, including your personal information, is kept in the government database for your access and completion at a later date. When I have a name for the document, I will pre-register the title information, type of work, and what it includes. Once you are registered with the copyright office, all of your personal data will transferred to any new work you register/pre-register.
Since anyone looking at this page has access to a computer, I won’t go into the old way of copyrighting using the old form TX, which is being phased out.
For those with unlimited funds, you may have someone else do all the work. Two websites that I have found are:
http://www.copyrightitnow.com/
After the work is published, I send in a hard copy of the work only if it has changed substantially from the original first draft (such as drawings, pictures, or large amounts of text have been added). Of course, this will cost an additional registration fee.
I hope this information is helpful. Any comments, corrections, or request for advice may be sent to me at: