Copyright

[Scott Gravenhorst]

I got this out of a book on publishing music.  The book suggested
sending a tape to yourself in the mail.  I also read another
book on publishing software which suggested the same thing, only
using a printout of the source.

I cannot produce a court case, however, I have read the same thing
in two different books on publishing.

I apologize for not disclaiming the fact that I am not an
attorney.  

DCMagnuson at aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 12/2/99 10:27:39 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
>chordman at flash.net writes:
>
>> Only the courts can give relief in a case of stolen intellectual
>>  property.  In the US, the most important point to make in court
>>  is that you prove that you had the idea and documented it first.
>>  Here, the proof is simple.  As soon as you have it on paper, you
>>  mail it to yourself and don't open the envelope.  The courts
>>  regard the US Post Office date stamp as the final word.  I think
>>  that if any of us feel that we have an idea that some unscrupulous
>>  person might steal, we should at least do the self mail.  I would
>>  imagine that this is more common in the world than just the US.
>>  
>
>This topic of "mail yourself a letter" as a copyright has come up several 
>times on the Rec.Audio.Pro and Alt.Music.4-track newsgroups regarding music 
>copyrights.  
>
>>From the general response of people on these lists, this is *not* a good 
>legal defense.  No one could give a specific case where this defense held up 
>in a US court.   The only definite protection is to get a tried and true US 
>copyright.  
>
>If you could provide an actual legal case to support this claim, that would 
>be great.  Personally, I'd *rather* just mail myself a copy of my CDs than go 
>through the process of sending in a copyright form.
>
>I'm not trying to badmouth the original poster, I just don't want anyone to 
>lose a court case by trying a faulty defense.   Perhaps intellectual property 
>is treated differnent than music when copyrights are concerned, so I could be 
>wrong.
>
>Dave Magnuson
>Independent Music Site
>http://www.indiemusicsite.com
>

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