Sharpe's Opinion
Wednesday, 1st Jul, 2009
Myows – Online Copyright Protection Service
An interview with Max Gudey, who has created a new web service called MyOws1, launching later this month. The website offers ‘free registration and management of your copyrights’. Here’s him explaining how it works:
At the core, Myows is similar to posting a letter to yourself, and using the post-office’s datestamp to prove you had the work before anyone else. The problem with this method, referred to as ‘the poor man’s copyright’, is that it doesn’t provide irrefutable proof if presented in court for a simple reason: It’s fairly easy to ‘unglue’ and ‘re-glue’ a sealed envelope.
In the new millenium, I reckoned we could do something similar but online, so we built an application that allows you to upload your work, in any file format. The file then gets stored securely and datestamped. You also immediately get a certificate stating that you uploaded the file at a given date, down to the minute. So if someone copies your work after you’ve uploaded it to your Myows account, we can prove that you were in possession of it before them. But Myows doesnt stop at that.
Speaking as a complete Intellectual Property layman, this seems like one of those ‘I can’t believe nobody had thought of that before’ ideas. It could prove to be a great help in digging through messes like the Jon Engle thing a few months back.
- Apparently the name means ‘MY Original WorkS’, no idea how it’s pronounced… [↩]
Comments
Hi Stu and thanks for the mention.
I do hope to make a big difference in the way creatives protect their copyrights, and deal with infringers.
The Jon Engle case is one of many that have inspired me.
Teething problems there will be, but i believe what i have to offer is both needed and useful.
As for the pronunciation of my name, it’s subject to geographical interpretations !
The highest practical hurdle that a copyright owner must overcome in enforcing a copyright is NOT having to establish that he or she created the work first, but that the work was registered with the Copyright Office before the infringement began. Absent that showing, the copyright owner is not entitled to statutory damages or attorneys fees and must establish that he or she suffered “actual damages” due to the infringement — often a difficult thing to prove.
There’s no harm in publishing a work in an online depository but it is no replacement for affixing a proper copyright notice on the work and registering it with the Copyright Office.
Hi Dan
I full-heartedly agree with you, but only for US citizens.
The rest of the world does not require registration with a government organization, and, regardless of registration with the usco, you are entitled to Cease and Desist and to a licensing fee.
Besides, most cases do not go to court, and evidence is often needed by third parties, may it be hosting providers who are obliged by the DMCA to remove infringing content if they are presented with sufficient evidence, or advertisers, clients…
There are many instances when proving the date at which you created a work will make or break your credibility.
Thanks for that, Stu. Nice link.
ladytizzy
July 1, 2009 at 5:31 pm