Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp
What advantages are there in actually filling out the forms and paying the Library of Congress fee and all that so as to have an official record of the date of creation?
|
I am not a lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV.
In an important sense, your copyright of your booger opus is not actually affected by the filling out of the Library of Congress forms. US law says your song is protected the second you put it into a fixed form, such as a sheet of manuscript or a sound recording.
Now the Library of Congress and their forms PA and SR are used not to create or protect your copyright but to document it. Ths difference is subtle but important. NOT filling out the forms still means that you still do have copyright interest in anything you write or record.
BUT if/when you or a partner/publisher claim someone has infringed on that copyright, your position in that conflict is improved if you have filled out and filed the PA or SR form. Why? More or less because the forms are Official Gubmint Documents that say yep, Booger Etude in D Minor, written by Whoopysnorp, this day of our lord 1999 etc.
In my opinion, you had better hope you are never in a position where you care about those forms, because if you do, it almost certainly means you are in some kind of fight over money, and that is a terrible place to be. If you are in that fight, though, having the forms is usually better than not having them because...
Claims of infringement that are decided in favor of the original writer can come with damage judgements - this is when a judge says "hey, infringer - pay this writer becuse you stole their song". If you, as writer, have gotten that far, then you really want the forms to have been filled out, because damage judgements are usually much stiffer / higher when the works PA or SR forms have been filed.
So that's why, under the "anything can happen" philosophy, as well as the "god, I am such a creative genius" philosophy I fill out my SR and PA forms. and pay the fee. It is the longest of longshots that it will ever matter, but I do it.
I am not a lawyer. Did I mention I'm not a lawyer?
I am not a lawyer.
-r