Poor Man’s Copyright – Simple facts

Posted on September 27th, 2011

You may have heard of Poor man’s copyright - a method of “using registered dating by the postal service, a notary public or other highly trusted source to date intellectual property, thereby helping to establish that the material has been in one’s possession since a particular time”.

Such a copyright is rather simplistically based on the notion that, in the event of misuse of intellectual property, the poor-man’s copyright could establish a “legally recognized date of possession before any proof which a third party may possess”. Poor man’s copyright is an ineffective way of protecting your work, though it is inexpensive.

The United Kingdom Patent Office has this to say on the subject – “… a copy could be deposited with a bank or solicitor. Alternatively, a creator could send himself or herself a copy by special delivery post (which gives a clear date stamp on the envelope), leaving the envelope unopened on its return. A number of private companies operate unofficial registers, but it would be sensible to check carefully what you will be paying for before choosing this route. It is important to note, that this does not prove that a work is original or created by you…”.

However, as per copyright law, there is no provision for extending any such type of protection. Poor man’s copyright is not a substitute for registration. Therefore, you will need the right copyright registration service to register copyright on any of your work, whether artistic, literary, or other creative output.

Tags: Copyright Law, Copyright Registration Service, Poor Mans Copyright, Registration Service
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