Alright.

Let’s sort things out for a moment. Most people believe that protecting your copyright is a very complicated procedure. The truth is that most people do not understand what copyright stands for at the first place.

What is copyright?

So, copyright is not something you buy, or something you get. It’s something you have once you have completed a creation. By default. Just like that.

The right of intellectual property (copyright) is acquired, without formalities, upon completion of the work. The main issue with Copyright is that it is not self-declared. The creator should obtain evidence of possession, in order to claim his rights.

When I write a poem, for example, by the time I am done with it, I own it’s copyright. It’s my IP (Intellectual property).

The real trouble sometimes, is what we call “Copyright Protection”. Saying that, the copyright of a certain creation (in order to be valid and useful to you), must be backed up with some real proof. Copyright law protects your right to reproduce, use and exploit your work (Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, July 1971, see all Berne Convention, Contracting Parties), as far as you have real proof that you are the beneficiary. It’s really that simple.

I may say “I have invented the wheel before anyone else”. And in fact, I may have. But no one is going to take my work for it. I need to prove it.

Copyright law

The copyright law, it’s very clean and clear on that. The person that has valid proof (or multiple proof at best case scenario) of earliest possession (date and time) of a work, is the official beneficiary of that work.

And by “work”, we mean songs, photos, images, drawings, videos, software, writings, lyrics, poems, visual art, scripts, plays etc.

How to copyright

As I said before, you don’t really copyright something. You protect and prove the copyright of something.

So, the best think to do, after completing a work (creation), is to make sure you get some early proof of possession as soon as possible (ASAP).

Remember? The earliest you get this proof, the better.

Through CopyrightsWorld.com, for example, you get multiple proof of ownership on every work you submit. You get digital, physical and public proof of possession at the same time. That way you protect your copyrights the most.