Copyrighting

[Lucas]

Hello, guys.
I know that you've got copyrights to your poems automatically once you've written them. However, in case of fraud, we need to prove somehow that the poem is ours.
So tell me, please, what is the practice when it comes to this? Are services that offer protecting our work for money the way to go?

Thanks in advance.

[CalebPerry]

Posting your poem on a forum like this, and then taking a screen shot of the thread, will give you proof that you owned the poem on the date of the thread. If no one can come up with any proof that has an earlier date on it, then the poem is yours. Indeed, you don't even need the screen shot if the forum never deletes old posts. Emailing your poems to a friend will also establish that a poem is yours on the date that you emailed it, provided again that no one can give evidence with an earlier date on it.

Poetry is the most common form of writing in the world. You have to write excellent poetry indeed for anyone to want to steal it.

[Lucas]

How about paying for protection? Does anybody use those services?

[CalebPerry]

Personally, I know nothing about them.

I can't speak for England, but in the U.S., a poem is automatically copyrighted once it is published. Exactly what the law says about posting on a forum, I don't know -- that may indeed qualify as publication (or it may not).

My best guess is that such for-profit services are either a rip-off or simply redundant.

Here's another thought: Posting your poems on Facebook probably protects them, since I believe that the history of posts on Facebook goes on forever -- so the poems and the dates of their posts are always there to be retrieved.

I couldn't say for sure, but I don't think that any of the well-known poets take special steps to protect their works. Thievery of other people's poems is vanishingly rare, although it has been known to happen.

[Lucas]

Thank you for help, Perry.