Intellectual property protection is crucial for the success of individual creators and also businesses involved in creative enterprises. The U.S. extends certain protections to the original authors of creative works and to those parties that purchase the rights to original creations from others.
Copyright protection allows an individual or a business to control the use of intellectual property and to exclusively profit off of original creations. The value of copyright protection cannot be overstated for those in creative fields, and yet many people fail to secure copyright protection for their businesses.
Sadly, some individuals, including entrepreneurs, fall victim to a common piece of advice that tells them how to obtain a “poor man’s copyright.”
Mailing something does not grant a copyright
An unfortunate and pervasive myth about free copyright protection instructs someone to mail their finished manuscript or song lyrics to themselves. The claim is that the postmark serves as an authentication of the date of creation. However, even the federal government has heard this urban legend and has confirmed that there is no protection for creations mailed by a creator to themselves.
Copyright protection comes either from submitting a formal copyright application to the United States Copyright Office or from publishing an original work. The process of mailing a manuscript or a work of art to oneself does not create copyright protections because it doesn’t prove anything about the date of creation or the origin of the work.
People could postmark envelopes to themselves and then create a manuscript months later that they based on someone else’s work and wrongfully claim to have mailed to themselves six months prior. Only outside review and authentication of someone’s creation can help settle a copyright dispute. Often, those protections come from submitting the creation to the government for formal protection, but people can obtain protection by publishing an original work as well.
Making a photograph, essay or other creative work available online, such as through social media, is one way to create copyright protection without formally registering with the government. However, in scenarios where businesses need to enforce copyright protections, filing official registration paperwork is often a key part of the process.
Those who have fallen victim to copyright myths and urban legends will have a harder time protecting their intellectual property rights if there is ever a violation in the future. Learning more about copyright protection may benefit those invested in the creation or distribution of original works.
