So how to prove that you own copyright to a work, and when it was created?
There are several ways to guarantee proof of copyright, although some are more official than others. If you’re working in a digital medium, the very timestamps in your file properties can stand to your advantage, proving the date of creation – but you shouldn’t rely on those, especially if you’re frequently copying files from one machine to another.
You should always include a written notice of copyright in anything that you distribute – anything as simple as a closing screen in a video or a footer in a printed document that states “Copyright 2006 John Doe. All rights reserved.” It can also say “some rights reserved”, and many choose to substitute the symbol for copyright (©) for the actual word “copyright”. For sound recordings, the phonorecord copyright symbol (the letter P in a circle, instead of the letter C) is used. Make sure to include the year of first publication in both standard copyright statements and phonorecord copyright statements, as well as your full name.
What is a "poor man's copyright"?
Another method is to mail a copy of your work to yourself. Run off Xerox copies of your artwork, sign it and date it; print out dated copies of a manuscript; create a tape or CD of your music; burn copies of your working files from Flash, 3D Studio Max, Maya, or other software as well as the final production results to a CD or DVD. Put your materials into a sturdy envelope, seal it tightly, and then mail it to yourself with your name and address clearly marked as both sender and recipient.
The reason that you want to mail the copies of your works to yourself is for the postal timestamp; a handwritten or printed time stamp can be forged, but postal timestamps are usually considered infallible. Make sure that you store the envelope in a safe place, and keep it sealed so that there can be no claim of tampering or inserting materials after the date on the postal time stamp.
This is sometimes referred to as a “poor man’s copyright”, and there’s no provision to include it under official copyright law – so that while it can be used as evidence in some courts and is usually a good idea as a backup, it still isn’t the same as copyright registration.
What if you display your work online? How do you stop people from stealing your work and redistributing it as their own?
Truthfully, you can’t – that’s one of the drawbacks to displaying your work online, the flip side to the benefit of being able to reach a much larger audience. You can, however, give notice of what permissions you give for use and redistribution by displaying a Creative Commons License on your site to let viewers know if you retain full copyright, allow some limited redistribution for commercial and/or non-commercial use, or are displaying your work on the public domain.
Because Creative Commons Licensing is based within official U.S. Copyright Law, it is legally binding. You can follow the instructions provided on the site to obtain either the correct code to place the appropriate license on your website, or the name of the license that you’re using to print on protected physical works.
What about obtaining official legal documentation of copyright ownership?
You can register your work through the United States Copyright Office. The basic registration fee is $45, but other fees may apply. You can see a full table of fees here.
In order to register, you would send your application, your nonrefundable filing fee, and a deposit to the Library of Congress. The three items must be in the same envelope; if sending more than one application, all applications, fees, and deposits should be in the same package but clearly marked as separate applications.
The deposit is an official record of the work copyrighted, and may vary depending on the type of work and the date of publication/creation – but the standard without any special requirements is two complete copies or phonorecords of the best edition of the work. These will be stored for reference and proof of copyright.
Can you register for U.S. copyright if you live outside of the U.S. or are not a U.S. citizen?
Only if the work is being used/displayed in the United States, and there are special procedures if the work was first published outside of the United States. In the case of the internet, in which a single country’s copyright laws can’t bind viewers from other countries and there is no international copyright protection to universally cover works, you should check the copyright protection laws of your country and place the appropriate copyright statement on your site. Using a Creative Commons license is also advisable, but will only protect you if your work is copied/stolen by someone in the United States.
Where can you learn more about U.S. copyright laws?
On the official United States Government website on copyright law.
The long and short of it is that you put a great deal of time and effort into your animations, and you should do your best to protect your creative works.
