Intellectual Property Insights from Fishman Stewart
Mini Article – Volume 23, Issue 2
Share on Social
Public Service Annoucement: No. Mailing Something to Yourself is Not a Substitute for Copyright Registration or a Patent.
A common intellectual property “urban legend” is that mailing something to yourself is legally equivalent to a copyright registration or a patent. This practice is often called the “Poor Man’s Copyright” or “Poor Man’s Patent” and the idea has been around for a long time.
The theory is that mailing a copy of a work or invention to yourself will provide you with certain legal rights akin to a copyright registration or a patent so long as the envelope remains sealed and bears a postmark by the United States Postal Service. Another variation of this theory is that documenting the work or invention and having the document notarized will grant similar legal protection.
There is no provision under U.S. law that supports these theories, and they are not a substitute for registration with the U.S. Copyright Office or obtaining a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A mailed or notarized copy may be evidence that a work or invention was in your possession on a certain date, but it does not prove that you hold the rights to the work or invention.
Thus, if you’re thinking about mailing something to yourself about your work or invention, whatever value might result from such a tactic may not be worth the cost of the stamp.
Kristyn Webb is the Group Leader of Fishman Stewart’s Copyright Practice Group, and is currently earning a Master’s Degree in Copyright Law at King’s College London.
Published January 25, 2023
Related Content from Fishman Stewart
This practice is often called the “Poor Man’s Copyright” and the idea has been around for a long time. The theory is that mailing a copy of a work to yourself will provide you with certain legal rights akin to a copyright registration so long as the envelope remains sealed and bears a postmark by the United States Postal Service.
Public Domain Day is celebrated on January 1st and commemorates the expiration of copyright protection for certain creative works. US copyright law provides the copyright owner with certain exclusive rights for a limited time, after which the works fall into the public domain.
Unlike the Matrix, Star Wars, and Austin Powers, respectively, Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, or ChatGPT, is not a robot in disguise or a bot of science fiction. We, the users, provide prompts in text form, and ChatGPT converses in response to the prompts.
Recently, we filed an application to register the copyright for Finny the Fish. In the United States, and in many other countries, copyright protection arises at the moment a work is fixed in tangible medium. So, why would we take the extra step to register Finny’s copyright?
With the 2022 midterms (almost) in the rearview mirror, political junkies are now free to turn their full attention to the 2024 presidential election. Today’s focus is on the tug of war that can occur when candidates play music at campaign events.
Both trademark law and copyright law may protect your logo, although the protection they provide differs. Trademark law would prohibit the unauthorized use of another’s logo that is sufficiently similar to your logo such that it is likely to cause confusion in the marketplace.
In the U.S., copyright protection generally does not extend to “useful” articles, like shoes, but can protect the designs on shoes, like that of the Yeezy Boost 350 sneakers. However, in Italy, the global fashion powerhouse since the 15th century, copyright law can protect shoes—like Moon Boots.
Under US copyright law, in most instances, if an independent designer creates your logo, then the independent designer, not you as the contracting party, would own the copyright.
Humans have been making and using musical instruments since at least the Paleolithic age—long before patent systems were put into place to protect inventions.
A trademark lawsuit brought by Vans against MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based art collective behind musician/artist Tyga’s “Wavy Baby” sneaker design.
IDENTIFYING, SECURING AND ADVANCING CREATIVITY®
