File for Copyright Today, No Lawyer Needed

Let's say you've written a book and want to copyright it. Take advantage of the U.S. Copyright Office website, www.copyright.gov, and its "eCO" (e-copyright) system and get it done today. Published, self-published or unpublished works are e-copyrightable if you are the owner. The cost is $35. Registering with the Copyright Office is excellent legal protection for your text should a dispute about ownership arise. You do not have to reside in the U.S. or be a citizen.

The 12 step-process takes about 45 minutes, but that included visiting the Power Point tutorial and the FAQs, recommended for first-timers. The instructions are clearer than if you worked with the paper form, there are Help buttons and Power Point tutorials, and 24-hour recorded help is available by phone. After you create your profile you can return to eCO and track your application, and use the same profile to copyright subsequent works. As you enter information, checkmarks in a menu track your progress, much like online tax-preparation software does. You can log off and continue the process later if interrupted. After paying the fee and uploading your work you do nothing but wait for your copyright registration to come by postal mail. Applying for copyright the old-fashioned way with paper forms and through the mail costs $65. Save $30 and time and use eCopyright.

Next, the eCO system's quirks: The system is offline for maintenance every weekend from 10 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, EST. The eCO system will not work with the browsers Safari or Google Chrome; Mac users are urged to use Firefox for Mac. Firefox works fine, as do IE and Netscape browsers. eCO also shuts down if idle for 30 minutes.

To start registration, be sure to click on "Start Registration," not "Step 1." The "Continue" button is near the top center of the page instead of in its intuitive place at the bottom right. Be a little patient with the interface, because this is a government site, after all. You should also know, and the site warns you, that your application creates a public record, and your name and contact information become public information when you apply for copyright.

At the end of the 12 screens click "Add to Cart," and there will be a link to the secure site pay.gov. Pay $35 from your debit or credit card or bank account. Then you can upload your text, provided it is in an acceptable format. If you are copyrighting a book that is already printed, such as a self-published book, there's a sheet to print out and send through the postal mail, along with two copies of the book, to the U.S. Library of Congress. The Library always requests two copies.

Acceptable formats for upload include: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .html, .rtf, .txt, .ppd and .wps. If your work is none of these you must convert it. If your format is .epub, you must convert it to .zip.

Whether you have uploaded your work or mailed it, your copyright registration will arrive in the postal mail. Your creative work will have the best protection available, and your copyright will last for your lifetime plus 70 additional years. Note: There is no copyright protection for titles or ideas.

It is best to register within three months of finishing or publishing your work. Do not wait until there is a copyright dispute to register. If your work is already in litigation or you want expedited service, registration will cost $760.

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Sylvia Sky recently e-copyrighted her fifth book. Copyright 2011 by Sylvia Sky.