On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Jeffrey Watts jeffrey.w.watts@gmail.com wrote:
The issue is that this is _not_ the custom, and never has been. If I write a book or paint a painting, it's mine, and if someone plagiarizes or copies my painting I can sue them for damages.
According to the discussion on this issue in a Bloch school classroom, you must register a work to sue for damages. Without registration, you could just sue to get them to stop using your work. That is why people such as, say, Arlo Guthrie, register their works with the LOC.
There is an international convention on copyright that mandates that no registration is required.
This is how it's always been. They're proposing instead to change it so that I must go out and pay someone to "register" my work - the supposition being that unless I go out to "register" it, it's public domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary...