Finally, I can post something on this board about which I have expertise.

As a professional writer well acquainted with copyright law, I can tell you that anything you write, whether you register it with the copyright dept. in Washington D.C. or not is automatically copyrighted. This includes messages sent to lists such as this.

Copyright law changed about twelve years ago, in an effort to relieve the paper burden of the staff in charge of copyrights. If you wrote it, you own it. Period. There are no exceptions, unless you choose to sell your copyright to another party.

In the same vein, it is no longer necessary for anyone, including professional writers, to use the © insignia on their work. In fact, it is now considered to be the sign of an amateur.

Just FYI.

Cathryn