There is a valuable type of property that you probably already own, and it was free.

TRUE: If you have ever written anything like, say, even an email to a friend, it is automatically protected by the Copyright law and therefore has potential monetary value. Although it sounds unbelievable, copyright protection is automatic which means people have to ask your permission or buy from you the rights to use anything you've written or drawn or recorded. And if they don't pay, you can sue them.

BUT, there are four common misconceptions about how Copyrights work:

MISCONCEPTION ONE — Most people think that Copyrights have to be registered with the U.S. Copy¬right Office. This is NOT so.

In truth, Copyright protection begins automatically the moment your written or artistic work is created. In fact, when you write a book or an article or create an advertisement or build a website or send a newsletter or record music or voice, you automatically have Copyright protection.

THEREFORE, it is NEVER necessary for you to spend money to file a registration with the Copyright Office?

But it does help if you register your creation with the Copyright Office for which there is a filing fee of only $30 Then, if someone steals your idea, you are entitled by law to the award of financial damages — as happened recently in New York when a wall paper design company was awarded $125,000 when their design was copied without the design company's permission. The design company also got $250,000 in legal fees. Wow!

You can register a copyright yourself. Just go to the U.S. Copyright Office on the internet at www.copyright.gov. Then follow the directions, fill out the form, and send it, along with a copy of your work and the $30 filing fee to the Copyright Office. Within about six months you'll receive a copyright registration.

MISCONCEPTION TWO — Only works that have a copyright notice on them are protected by copyright. This is NOT so!

Use of a displayed copyright notice is optional — though there are benefits in displaying copyright notices. A copyright notice, which costs nothing, can inhibit others from stealing your work; it can also help you recover monetary damages. (A copy¬right notice looks like this © — which is followed by the publication date and copyright owner's name.)

MISCONCEPTION THREE — No one can use or photocopy a protected work without the owner's permission. This is NOT so.

In fact, this is an urban legend that's never been true. But you can copy or otherwise use protected works of others for private use only or for any use that does not diminish the value of the protected work. EXAMPLE: If you make a copy of a protected work, such as a music CD, for your own use, you might be diminishing the value of the protected work. The record companies definitely think you are. But they probably won't do anything to you — unless you start distributing the protected music whether or not you make money.

MISCONCEPTION FOUR — You can copyright your Great Ideas. This is NOT so.

Copyrights protect only the written (or otherwise recorded) description of an idea — but not the idea itself. EXAMPLE: Imagine that you have a great idea for a new type of lawnmower which you name and describe in detail in an email to a friend. Your friend then starts manufacturing and selling the lawnmower and using, in his advertising, the product name and the phraseology that you used in your email description of the lawnmower.

QUESTION: Are you legally entitled to monetary damages for his stealing your design, your product name for the lawnmower and the phraseology you used in describing the idea?

The design of the lawnmower can be protected with a Patent but not with a Copyright. (Note that your friend cannot get a Patent on your idea; therefore, unless you have a patent on your idea, you are not entitled to monetary damages because of his manufacturing and selling the lawnmower.)

The name of the product is protected with a Trademark but not a Copyright. (A Copyright does not protect names, titles, or short phrases.) You are not entitled to monetary damages unless you have a trademark on the product name.

However, you are entitled to monetary damages because your friend has committed copyright piracy when he used the phraseology that you used in your email description of the lawnmower. (In order to bring a legal action based on copyright infringement, you must first register the Copyright of your phraseology.)

Copyrights are valuable and your written creations deserve to be protected.

Your Trademarks and Service Marks are valuable assets, and they need to be protected.