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Copyrighting is a form of legal documentation that protects the author and his or hers work, whether it is images, audio, art, books, or other media or work. Copyrighting protects the author from plagiarism and illegal copying and reselling of the work.

Copyrighting starts when the work is made in a consistent form, the person who made the work is the author, and only the author can claim copyright. The work is protected when it was thought of, although it’s not copyrightable until it’s registered.

Registering for copyright is different for every kind of work but for the most part it involves sending a copy of the work to the National Copyright Office and in some cases going to the National Copyright Office your self. Once the copyright office receives the copy of your work and a copyright application along with payment and everything is in order. Your work will be copyrighted and you will receive a certificate of registration after approximately 4 months. But it was not always this way.

Before the 15th century nothing was protected due to the fact the there was no mass production. Most people think the first copyright law was established in England and was called “England’s Statute of Anne.” Established in 1710 the Statute of Anne would give the right of ownership to the original author only, but unfortunately it was only good for only 28 years then the copyright was void.

In modern times things have changed. The Constitution gives Congress the ability to enact copy right laws. Congress made the first copyright law in May 1790, two weeks later first copyright was made. Copyrights were recorded by clerks of the U.S. District Courts until 1897 when the Copyright office became its own department of the Congress.

Copyrighting in modern times can be very confusing because even though a work does not say it is copyrighted it still could be. To be sure, check if copyrighted protection exists by contacting the author or the National Copyright Office, if you are going to use any copyrighted material from that author. You need written consent from the author, unless it’s under fair use laws. Fair use is material that may or may not be copyrighted; fair use just means that the author has stated in righting that their work can be used with out permission. An example is clip art that comes with most word processors.

Copyright laws protect original authors work only; Ideas and discoveries can not be copyrighted however they can be patented. A patent gives exclusive right to the author for their invention or idea, but a patent only protects for 20 years from the patent registration date. Phrases and sayings related to products can be trademarked. Almost all countries have copyright laws and relations with the US, but not all countries do.

The Copyright Office catalogs bibliographic descriptions of all registered copyrighted products, these catalogs are used for recopyrighting works that have expired and other reasons such as documenting and recording of copyrights. The course of a copyright depends of weather the copyright has or will be published and the date of the publication. For most copyrighting situations done after January 1, 1978, copyrighting last’s 70 years after the author’s death. Works copyrighted under a fake name (or pin name) or a work made for hire, lasts for 95 years from its first publication or 120 years from its first creation.

Copyrighting does not let the author publish or distribute their work without a publisher, Works that invade other people’s privacy/rights or that are obscene are not publishable but are copyrightable in the US.

E-mail and web pages are copyrightable and is useful but they are under some rules, for instants what you think is protected but not facts or ideas that you may of thought. Works that are related to earlier works can be copyrighted as long as the later work was not made from only the earlier work.

Copyrighting has been a very important part of US and world history, without copyrighting there would be no way to record who invented and produced works. Copyrighting is well documented because of the continued need due to mass production in the US and other countries and though out the world. Thanks to copyrighting the people who invented products or works get the creditability they deserve.