As soon as you write and publish your article as a visible written work, it is actually copyrighted for you immediately. This means that no one can legally reproduce it without your consent. Any articles you wrote after 1977 are covered by this automatic copyright protection that lasts for 70 years after you die.

Please understand this is a simple blanket statement in this article. This is not legal advice in any manner. If you are concerned about the protection of your work, I suggest that you contact an attorney that specializes in Copyright law. You can find one in your local yellow pages, doing a search online, or researching in your local library.

Which ever method you choose, be sure to check the attorney or his law firm’s reputation. In many cases you can request a free consultation to see if he can help you or not.

If you choose to pursue this on your own, you may want to consider additional ways to protect your work from duplication, theft, or reproduction. Here are some free and simple suggestions:

1. Add a © to the bottom of your text with the year of publication and your name.

In order to make a © - Copyright C Symbol on a PC Keyboard either:

A. Hold down Ctrl and Alt at the same time and press C (Ctrl+Alt+C)

or

B. Hold down Alt and type 0169 on the number pad on the right hand side of your keyboard (Alt+0169)

For more information about the Copyright-C symbol, visit the Copyright Symbol Webpage.

Simply write "Copyright" and your name and year of publication.

Publish a copyright notice on your website. You may want to create a specific page called "Copyright." You can also include a copyright notice in the footer of every page. This copyright notice should be followed by the year of publication and your name - for example:

© 1997-2014, Bluedolphin Crow - All rights reserved.

If you want to prevent your work from being stolen or reproduced, you should register your writing with the US Copyright Office. You can get copyright registration on their

Under the law, if your copyright is infringed, you cannot sue unless the work has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

For more resources about Copyrighting Your Work, visit:

What is copyright?





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