I recently had a call with my client, and he is working on a poetry book. He wants to share a poem via social media, but is worried about his works being stolen/taken. During the call we discussed copyright laws and I want to share these insights with you.D​o you need to copyright every single poem?Most literary works which includes poetry,is automatically copyrighted as soon as you write it down ​and have a date/time stamp on it. ​However, registering your literary work with the U.S. Copyright Office provides more effective protection from copyright violations. A valid copyright registration is required in order to bring a suit for infringement in Federal court.What is copyright infringement?Examples of copyright infringement include using your poetry during a public performance and publishing your poems in any format without your knowledge or authorization. Copyright infringement laws also protect against someone creating work that is based on or derived from your poetry.What Can Be Copyrighted?The U.S. Copyright Office states that copyright, “protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.” Copyrighted works include the following categories:

• Literary works
• Musical works, including any accompanying words
• Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
• Pantomimes and choreographic works
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Architectural works

What does copyrighting your work do?Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner the exclusive rights to do and authorize others to:

• Prepare derivative works based upon the work
• Perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
• Perform the work publicly (in the case of sound recordings) by means of a digital audio transmission

It is illegal for anyone else to infringe upon these rights. For a business to properly protect its assets, intellectual property and especially copyrights should always be something to be aware of and taken into consideration.​​ How long does copyright last and where can I copyright my work?Copyright typically lasts 70 years. ​Please note that in order for you to copyright any of your work, it must be original work. Afterwards the copyright search can be used to research to determine the rightful copyright owner and to find out if there are similar books, music, art, etc. that are already registered.Registering your poetry is not mandatory, but highly recommended. Here is where you can register: https://www.copyright.gov/registration/ ​ ​