More copyright issues...

You should read the sticky post above.

In Canada and the UK you can send a registered letter to yourself with your lyrics or tape inside, never open it, and use it as proof of ownership at a particular date.

If I was going to go that route, I'd get the lyric sheet notarized too.

You have the copyright as soon as you write it though.

The following is snipped from the above mentioned post:

Here is some UK info...

http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/std/faq/copyright/protect_rights.htm

Copyright protection is automatic as soon as there is a record in any form of what has been created (there is no official registration). However, steps can be taken by the creator of a work to provide evidence that he or she had the work at a particular time. For example, a copy could be deposited with a bank or solicitor. Alternatively, a creator could send himself or herself a copy by special delivery post (which gives a clear date stamp on the envelope), leaving the envelope unopened on its return. A number of private companies operate unofficial registers, but it would be sensible to check carefully what you will be paying for before choosing this route

It is important to note, that this does not prove that a work is original or created by you. But it may be useful to be able to show that the work was in your possession at a particular date, for example where someone else claims that you have copied something of theirs that was only created at a later date.

i did read the above post, but really I don't unstand much of it. BUT, I did find the website that CAN give me help, and I'm gonna look it up later. Thanks!

In Canada and the UK you can send a registered letter to yourself with your lyrics or tape inside, never open it, and use it as proof of ownership at a particular date.
That's known as "Poor Man's Copyright", and unfortunately it is worse than useless. It can easily be faked, and thus isn't worth anything to anyone - especially lawyers.

http://www.copyrightauthority.com/poor-mans-copyright/

I'm afraid you are half right.

It's worse than useless in the USA. It appears to have some standing in the UK and Canada. Check out the link.

What if I were to mail myself an unsealed envelope to get a date stamp, leave it for a year, print out the text from your latest article, stuff in the envelope and seal it? I'd have a sealed envelope containing the text from your article, dated one year before you published it...

If I were to sue you for stealing 'my' article however, I'd be laughed out of court simply because it is that easy to fake. That's no use to anyone other than lawyers and their accountants. It doesn't matter how many sites out there don't realise that, it's still true :)

I'm not arguing whether it's sensible or not, or if there are ways around it. All I'm doing is pointing you to the independent website and the sticky that contains my research.

Just so you know, I would never, never, never trust a piece of work that I thought was worth stealing to poor man's copyright. I don't care where in the world I was.

It's just stupid to trust something that you think has value to poor man's rather than ponying up a few bucks/quid to register it.

Heck here in the USA you can copyright a whole collection of songs at once for the same low price.

If it's worth stealing, it's worth protecting properly.

I've always wondered about simply getting a song notarized. Does anyone know of the pitfulls of this 'almost a poor man's copyright' method? It seems to me that it would prove that you possed the work at a certain point in time. Any thoughts?

I suspect that a notary public would charge you as much, if not more than, the copyright fee.