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Originally Posted by sabretalon
I agree as far as the US is concerned but the LAW is different in the UK, copyright exists the moment you have concieved the work. In the UK you do not have to register your work for copyright. This is only valid for those in the UK.
What you say is correct for the US but may also differ from other countries.
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Oh, definitely the laws are a bit different. The law is also the same in the US: the copyright exists the moment the work is created and placed in a fixed form. The main difference between how the US views it and many other countries is the fact that the US has a portion of gov't, the LOC, which specifically oversees, issues and guarantees copyrights for whoever files.
So, the original poster, scrappydidnt, is a US citizen and therefore the answer is tailored for him. He was given the law about copyrights as it applies to the US.
In the UK, copyright protection is a personal matter and can be obtained as you described. Further protection by joining a organisation representing copyright owners
is probably advised.
The 'poor man's copyright' is probably a US phrase, however if a song becomes popular and makes it to the US it would be wise to understand copyright law as it applies here. There are many international publishing agreements concerning certain songs or certain bodies of work that follow the
Berne Convention (international copyright agreement signed by most countries of the world. The US didn't join, however until 1988) but when the agreement by a US publisher is made, US copyright laws are extended in that agreement. Likewise, if an agreement from the UK is extended, UK laws would apply.
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Originally Posted by sabretalon
Posting to youtube, puts it in the public domain it does not hold youtube responsible for what you upload and therefore youtube would not support you if your work was "stolen".
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Posting an original work on YouTube does
not place the work in the public domain as it applies to US laws. If you mean that the work is placed publicly, then that is true but it's not in the PD meaning the song is now freely anyones. The work is still original, the work still has a copyright because it was placed in a fixed form by scrappydidnt. Scrappydidnt also inherently owns the publication rights for his song. He chose to publish it on YouTube, but he still owns the rights. He would have to hold YouTube harmless for statutory damages in most cases, but he still has the right to issue a
cease and desist order to them and then attemt to stem the tide from the damage he did by letting it be published freely in the first place. He would not be in a very good position, but he still owns the copyright.