Klarinet Archive - Posting 000769.txt from 1998/10
From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org> Subj: Re: Re: [kl] copyright Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 07:57:33 -0400
Ed Bland said:
>That's what I mean.
>Registered mail means that nothing can be sent unsealed. All seals and
I mean
>all seals on the package are inspected, approved, dated and stamped by
the
>post office and shipped under lock and key and guarded with guns.
>I used to work in the Registered mail section of the PO. Jewelry and
many
>other valuables are shipped this way.
Ed,
it doesn't work. You _can_ send an unsealed envelope by registered
mail - the Post Office doesn't care. You have to specify _unsealed_ on a
document. I did research on this a long time back during a patent deal I
was working on - I ended up have _each page_ of my notes notarized and
stamped (patents cost significantly more than copyrights - and copyright
in some cases is a stronger protection). Mailing things to yourself has
very little legal standing. _Publication_ has much greater legal
standing. Movie studios seem to realize this; they are accused often of
stealing unsolicited manuscripts and adapting them for their own use. In
most cases the plaintiffs lose because there was no publication of the
work to provide proof of prior work. Twenty bucks spent registering
before sending the manuscript to a movie house may have resulted in a
large settlement ...
If there's a legal battle, you will have to register your work anyway
before taking someone to court.
Publish and/or register - that's the only real way to do it. Everything
else will cost you much more in legal feees should someone attempt to
claim it as their own.
----
Mark Charette@-----.org
Webmaster, http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
All-around good guy and devil-may-care flying fool.
"There can be no freedom without discipline." - Nadia Boulanger
Cheers,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|