Copyright

How do I copyright my work?

It is not absolutely necessary to copyright your work since your manuscript is automatically copyrighted when it is written or "born." The copyright laws were changed in 1978 to protect an author's work for up to 50 years after the author's death. However, there are some significant benefits to officially copyrighting your work with the Copyright Office. You may register your work prior to publication or after publication. Form TX is used for the majority of publications and may be obtained (with instructions) from:

The Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
(202) 707-3000.
http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html

Form TX:
http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formtxi.pdf