When all else fails, there is always the "poor man's copyright": 

mail yourself a copy of your product...don't open it when you receive it.  The post mark on envelope will hold up in a court of law as an official time stamp showing when you completed your work.  This, of course, is not a permenant thing...but will hold you until you can do all the legal paperwork and pay the fee's.

once again...don't open it when it comes back to you.  Once opened all bets are off....

Giacomo wrote:
When all else fails, there is always the "poor man's copyright": 

mail yourself a copy of your product...don't open it when you receive it.  The post mark on envelope will hold up in a court of law as an official time stamp showing when you completed your work.  This, of course, is not a permenant thing...but will hold you until you can do all the legal paperwork and pay the fee's.

once again...don't open it when it comes back to you.  Once opened all bets are off....

Unfortunately I screwed up the split for this thread. Any discussion of this matter will occur here, not in the other one.

Except that I'm moderating it to stop it here. The links in the sticky are there for a reason. If you want to understand why the poor man's copyright (as described by Giacomo) is unnecessary and ludicrous, please check them out.

No more discussion is permitted in this thread. This is not a site for urban legends and much-repeated cant. If you want to understand copyrights, then use the links and learn the law.

Best, Ron

Disclosure: Giacomo's post was edited to remove its sticky status. No text was changed.

Ron