Legal Question in Consumer Law in Minnesota

Re: copyright law

You already have it. The moment your creative work was fixed in a medium of expression (written down on paper, recorded on tape, etc.) it was protected by copyright.

To register your copyright you can contact the Library of Congress and deposit your work there with a copyright registration application. This serves notice on others that you have a copyright, and of course you should use the (C) sign on your works to indicate to others that they are copyrighted. When you publish these poems yourself on paper, or by xeroxing them to send out, be sure to include (c) 2000, All Rights Reserved. Then, if you sell them, you can sell the first serial rights that allow someone to publish them for money. You should never transfer the entire copyright unless so advised by counsel.

If you have additional questions about copyright law contact the Register of Copyrights at the Library of Congress for additional information.