Hi Kees,
I have done a lot of copyrighting, but not for the last five years.
Hopefully, rules have not changed.
Copyrights are very important because they protect you from those who might
use your work for their own profit, without acknowledgement or compensation.
Work published without a copyright becomes part of the public domain and can
be reproduced without your permission. ("Publishing" in this case means that
the work was presented publically - it does not necessarily mean that it was
published in a book or magazine.)
Having something copyrighted is a simple and inexpensive process. In the USA
it cost $20 per item (5 years ago) and several things could be copyrighted
together as one item, e.g. an anthology of poems or a book of verse.
My copyrights are all in the art field so things may be a bit different with
literary works, but I believe all creative output has basically the same
rules.
My lawyer advised me to put a copyright notice on everything I "published',
even before applying for a copyright for that item. That way one's rights
are protected.
We did end up suing a huge conglomerate for copyright infringement at one
point and they settled out of court for a satisfactory amount. That
convinced me that copyrights are really important and the system does work.
Enjoy your trip to Denmark.
Mary Sheehan
