WARNING!  Don’t Even Think About Giving Another Presentation Until You Read This! 

“How To Protect Your Materials & Ideas From Being Stolen,
Without An Attorney For Only $30”

 In just a moment I hope to make you so angry that you won’t give another presentation or waste another day, without protecting yourself from having your materials stolen. 

What I want to tell you, concerns a crime that is going on in the world today, that is robbing speakers, authors, and anyone else that has developed intellectual property.  You could be the next victim being cheated out of your profits and material.

If you have developed or are developing your intellectual property, it is important that you read everything I’m about to share with you.  You can’t afford not to.

Every day thieves are stealing intellectual property that belongs to someone else, and selling it as their own.  With the advent of the Internet, this has become an epidemic.  

Material can easily be converted to an electronic book, with inexpensive software, and sold on the Internet or an online auction site, all without fulfillment costs.  It is a big business and pure profit.  You need to have every legal protection available to protect yourself. 

For works created after January 1, 1978 copyright is secured automatically and immediately, for the author’s life plus 70 years, when the work is created, and registration is not a condition of copyright protection. 

With these changes in copyright law, many authors are under the impression, that their works are protected immediately upon being written.  While this is technically true, in reality, it provides a false sense of security.

Copyright law is fraught with traps and pitfalls for the unwary.

For example, if you didn’t register your work, and you need to go to court to protect your intellectual property, you have a problem.  Before a copyright infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin. 

Registration time limits also come into play, which can cause you to lose important rights, that determine the amount of money you can collect for an infringement.

If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.

The government fee for registering a copyright is currently thirty dollars.  Against that background, you can see it is foolish not to register your intellectual property immediately.

There is no such thing as an "international copyright" that will automatically protect an author's writings throughout the entire world. Protection against unauthorized use in a particular country depends, basically, on the national laws of that country.

However, there are ways to extend copyright protections beyond the U.S., by following the rules of the Universal Copyright Convention.

On September 16, 1955 the U.S. became a member of the Universal Copyright Convention (the UCC). To guarantee protection for a copyrighted work in all UCC member countries, the notice must consist of the symbol © (the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation are not acceptable), the year of first publication, and the name of the copyright proprietor. Example: © 2003 John Doe.  

For additional important information, on what you need to know and do, to protect yourself and your intellectual property, you can order the complete audio and video presentation on copyrights by visiting our Web site or contacting Bob Silber.  

NOTICE: This article is copyrighted material and may not be edited, altered, or modified in any way, without the written permission of the author. This article discusses general legal issues of interest and is not designed to give any specific legal advice pertaining to any specific circumstances.   It is important that professional legal advice be obtained before acting upon any of the information contained in this article.

Ó 2003 Bob Silber 954-786-0518

Note:  This article was originally prepared and distributed at the National Speakers Association Western Educational Workshop in Irvine, California, the National Speakers Association Eastern Educational Workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina and the National Speakers Association National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.