You're welcome. The U.S. Copyright Office allows you to register via their online portal, so it is easy to do if you go that route. Just check into the conditions for registering a work as a foreign author. If it is unpublished, I don't think it is an issue. If published, the Berne Convention should apply. Since it is relatively cheap to register, you could just decide to do it without researching all that stuff. It would at least create a record.
The problem with any protection of copyright beyond DCMA take-down orders isn't likely to be establishing your copyright; it's much more likely to be the cost of any sort of prosecution. It costs thousands of dollars to sue anyone for much of anything, and there are almost always jurisdiction issues these days to make everything more complicated. And assuming that you do spend all the money to get a judgment for copyright violation, you'll have just as hard of a time getting payment. I was recently plagiarized by an unknown "author" putting books up on Amazon and other bookstores from an unknown location. It would have made no difference whether the copyright was registered or not because all I could afford to do was send DCMA notices to the vendors.
Damages can be in issue, too, but in the U.S. if you have a timely registration you can get statutory damages, and you could also get costs and attorneys fees in some cases. If the infringement is willful, there are treble damages. So if you have a timely registration, you might be able to get someone to take the case on a contingency if there is enough recovery at stake (and the infringer isn't judgment proof).
Yeah, that sounds similar to what happened to my friend. However, he's been unwell with cancer since he discovered the fraud and hasn't had any time to deal with it. Fortunately he's getting better, so I think he'll get back to it. Your point is well taken. It's not that you haven't got the copyright, it's that it's difficult to enforce it. Especially when the fraud takes place overseas. @Ashley Harrison - I'm glad @Steerpike and @BayView were able to answer your question, because I haven't got a clue! I'm just as baffled as you are.
What's frustrating about copyright law is once you've obtained it, however futile an exercise that turns out to be. This doesn't prevent someone from stealing your idea and passing it off as their own. It's like scaling a mountain and planting your flag at the peak and having someone come along, remove your flag and plant their own, claiming they were there first. Bloody Sod's law at work again.
I suppose the thing to do is write a huge bestseller, so it would become so famous that nobody would dare try to rip it off! Mind you, then they'd try to sue you for stealing 'their' ideas.
But you don't KNOW if the infringer is judgement proof until you've done a fair bit of expensive digging.
What's DCMA? I googled it, and it seems to deal with military contracts. Not sure how that applies here?
Oops. Typo/acronym confusion. DMCA - it's a US law, but the wording of the standard notices follows international treaty expectations, so US DMCA notices will work for most sites regardless of jurisdiction. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Some sites in other countries make DMCA-type notices a real pain in the ass. Ever try to get something taken off Alibaba?
Never even heard of it. But, for sure, the international aspect is one more complication in it all. Very frustrating!
