Copywriting unfinished works?

In all reality, it doesn't really matter if your work is or is not copyrighted. If you do try to sue someone for misuse or plagiarism, it's up to the judge or jury to decide if the work has been wrongfully duplicated.

Simply having an "idea" does not entitle you to it. Think of it like cars: how many cars have 4 wheels? Ford can't sue every car company that uses 4 wheeled vehicles. The idea of using 4 wheels was around before cars were even invented. It just happens to be an optimal number for a vehicle.

Your ideas are the same. It may be a good idea, but it's far from exclusive. Everyone has a right to it. Plagiarizing on the other hand is a no go, and can get people into trouble. Can you successfully sue to have plagiarized content removed? Well, the US legal system is a crap shoot. Judges administer the law from the bench. The federal, state, county, or city law may explicitly state something, but judges aren't bound (for some reason) to uphold it.

Though if you have a mountain of dated threads/blog entries/witnesses that can testify to the origin of the work, you'll most likely win. In my (limited) experience, however, most people will remove offending works on request, or site your website/original work. Nobody likes being called a thief.

 

the best proof of authorship is to keep your first notes, the first draft and a 'middle' one, which will show how you developed the completed work from your initial idea...

notarizing doesn't prove anything other than that the notary was satisfied that you were the person signing the document, based on the means of identification you provided... it can not prove you wrote it to begin with...

 

Funny that you guys mentioned it, my mother is a notary public. But I guess it doesn't help anyways. I trust Mamma's knowledge