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The Poor Man's Copyright

For anyone who creates and shares music, literature, or art online, plagiarism and theft are big worries. Potentially exposing yourself to a large number of mostly anonymous people all over the world often leaves you vulnerable and open to all sorts of attacks. But for a lot of amateur writers, paying for official copyrights and registering with your country's copyright office just isn't something that's affordable. As a way to counter online plagiarism while keeping the often shallow pockets of amateur artists intact, the Poor Man's Copyright has become one of the writing communities’ most popular myths and has lured countless online writers into a false sense of security.

What is the Poor Man's Copyright?

The Poor Man's Copyright is a relatively free way to “copyright” work (writing, music, and other forms of fine art) and give authors proof of creation. To obtain a Poor Man's Copyright, an author can place a copy of their work in an envelope, seal it, and mail that envelope to themselves. Once the author receives the envelope again in the mail, he/she MUST NOT open it. Theoretically, once the envelope has been postmarked, if it remains sealed and untampered with, it can serve as proof that you created that piece no later than the day it's postmarked, and therefore prove ownership. Theoretically.

This method is often preferred for many writers who post stories online because it's quick and free (with just the cost of postage), unlike the costly price of registering your work with your country's copyright office (about $35 in the U.S. per registration).

Is It Effective?

No.

While the Poor Man's Copyright is good in theory, it can prove to be ineffective in practice, lending it to be a weak piece of evidence if you ever need real proof.

The Poor Man's Copyright is seemingly dependent on the sealed and postmarked envelope, and therein lies the problem. Let's say someone plans to steal stories from the internet, they can send empty and unsealed letters through the mail in advance, where it will receive its dated postmark. In the future, they can copy and print stories off the site, place it into the already postmarked envelopes and seal them. Now, they'll have a copy of this story with a “copyright” that may precede your posting of the story by months. To fool the Poor Man's Copyright is too easy of a task for it to be taken even remotely seriously.

What Are Better Options?

An official copyright, registration with your country's copyright office, is your safest option. This is the best way to collect legal proof of ownership of any particular piece.

For those of us (especially us Mibbians) who simply want some extra assurance (and protection from malicious members) when posting our work on the internet, another option exists – though it may have little to no legal standing.

E-mailing Yourself a Copy

Unlike the good ol' fashioned Pony Express, e-mailing yourself a copy of your work is a lot harder to forge or tamper with than the original Poor Man's Copyright. When you e-mail yourself a copy, the date and the actual work within the e-mail's content, cannot easily be changed or altered. The date and time it was sent can remain saved in both the sent and received (inbox) sections of your e-mail. This can provide a great piece of proof to Mibba's (as well as other sites') admins and help aid you in other online copyright and ownership disputes.

Generally, it's important to remember that anything you put on the internet is there for the taking. That's why it's important to keep pieces you plan or hope to someday publish off the internet. For amateur writers, this means using other pieces for practice. You can still develop your talent and get feedback to help you improve on other “sample” pieces. Not everything you write is destined for publication, so choose wisely what you plan on exposing to the internet.