What is a poor man’s copyright and how does it work?

Question

What is a poor man’s copyright and how does it work?

In: 4

Answer 1

Basically it’s any way you can prove that you originated a work. A date-stamped example of the work certified by an independent body is decent proof.

The classic example is writing it down and mailing it to yourself. So if you ever have a conflict over who originated work you’ve got a sealed envelope with a USPS date stamp on it containing the work. That’s some decent proof that you had that work on X date.