Whether you are copyrighting your poetry to protect it from theft and plagiarism or just to give yourself a sense of accomplishment, registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office is easy and relatively cheap. While, technically, you own the copyright from the moment you author your work, registering it is a way to ensure that you can prove it in court if litigation occurs.

Why Copyright Your Work?

According to the U.S. Copyright office, copyright "protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture." However, copyright does not protect "facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed." Therefore, if you own the copyright for your work and want to sue someone for stealing it, the fact that you registered it will serve as valuable evidence in a court of law.

Registering

Registering with the U.S. Copyright Office is as easy as visiting its website, www.copyright.gov. From there, click on the "register online" text on the left-hand side of the site. Next, click on the logo for the "Electronic Copyright Office," or eCO and follow the prompts. As of January 2010, the online registration fee is $35. As the U.S. Copyright Office prefers you to file electronically to save resources, there are several benefits to filing online such as a lower fee, faster processing time and online tracking. If you prefer to file the old-fashioned way, you can either print the form from the website or request a copy of the application be sent through the mail. The fee for filing manually is $65.

Wait

The wait time for receiving your certificate of copyright registration after filing online can be as long as nine months. If that seems like a long time, consider that filing by paper will result in a wait of as long as 22 months. The U.S. Copyright Office does not send a temporary certificate saying you applied for copyright, but will email you a confirmation of your application if you file online. If you don't file online, the only evidence you will have that the office even received your application would be if you choose to send it by certified mail or through a company like FedEx or UPS.

Contact the Office

To reach a representative at the U.S. Copyright Public Information Office, call (202) 707-3000. Employees are available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. Recorded information is available 24 hours a day. To request paper application forms or circulars, call the Forms and Publications Hotline at (202) 707-9100 and leave a recorded message.To contact the office by mail, write to: Library of Congress Copyright Office--COPUBS 101 Independence Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20559-6304

Source:

U.S. Copyright Office official site.

More Information:

Yale copyright resources

U.S. Copyright Office additional resourses