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From: ka@hropus.UUCP (Kenneth Almquist)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: copyrights to letters
Message-ID: <284@hropus.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Feb-86 19:51:55 EST
Article-I.D.: hropus.284
Posted: Fri Feb 14 19:51:55 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Feb-86 03:54:53 EST
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Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ
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> Often REGISTERED MAIL is used to secure a copyright.

Using registered mail to protect a copyright does not make a lot of
sense.  It shows that the work existed on a given date with a copyright
notice attached.  Probably a court would find this convincing evidence,
although I would hesitate to count on this since I expect that the
date stamped on a registered letter could be forged.  But the fee for
registering a copyright was only $10.00 last time I checked.  Schemes
to save this fee are hardly worthwhile unless you intend to copyright
an aweful lot of stuff.  If you have to pay your own attorney's fees
because you didn't register your copyright, that $10.00 that you saved
(actually less, because registered mail isn't free) will seem pretty
insignificant.

> This is a practice taught to scenic designers, who have a guild which
> only enforces copyrights documented in this way (Scenic Artists Guild).

I cannot imagine why this is so; perhaps this policy was designed before
the latest copyright law?

> I don't know about other fields, but in music and theater, you must
> be able to show proof of copyright even to place a work in public
> domain.  Otherwise, someone else can go through the formalities of
> getting the work copyrighted and sue the original author, or file a
> claim through the appropriate guild, and collect for all 'freely
> distributed copies'.  Particularly in scholastic theater, this has
> been known to happen (Student fails to copyright a work and a pro-
> fessional 'formally publishes and copyrights' the same work).

Any professional (if the word applies) who does this is taking a big
risk.  When the case comes to trial, the professional will undoubtedly
be called to testify, and if he proceeds to lie under oath, he may be
convicted of perjury, which is no joke.  I cannot imagine a sentencing
judge would be lenient in a case like that.  If the work was a play
that had been performed by a student group, it would be easy to call
the actors to testify; there would be no need for sending anything via
registered mail.
				Kenneth Almquist
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