Post #370268 by BrickHorn on Sun, Mar 30, 2008 3:00 PM

Paul,

With all due respect to Tipsy, some of his advice is not quite correct. In my view, without fully understanding your situation and speaking generally, the best option is to register for a copyright. While registration at this point is too late to qualify for statutory damages (i.e. a set amount of money you can collect, no matter how low your actual monetary losses are), it is still not too late to register and then sue. You must register before you sue, but you can sue even if the infringement started before you registered.

And, you own the copyright whether they register it or not. The copyright attaches on publication. Registration is NOT required to own a copyright (only to enforce it in court). So, whoever published the work first (in this case, you), owns the copyright.

I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have.

[ Edited by: BrickHorn 2008-03-30 15:22 ]

[ Edited by: BrickHorn 2008-03-30 15:24 ]