The Internet has created many myths about copyrights, some are true while others are completely fake. This article takes a quick look at some of the more common ones.
**Note: This is for people in the U.S., other countries’ laws may slightly differ.
You have to register your work for copyright protection
You have to register your work to sue in court, but you do in fact hold a copyright the second your work is made. Close to 20 years ago the U.S. adopted something called the Berne Convention, which made it so you don’t have to register with the government to hold a copyright. The U.S., however, is one of the few countries that still requires registration to sue in court for damages.
You need to register to file DMCA notices
Nope, like I said above you can’t sue without registering, but you can still file DMCA takedown notices. The thing to remember is if the other party files a counter notice you have to register the work in question to sue, and registering it while in the conflict can cost quite a bit more than registering it before the conflict.
I’m not selling it, so they can’t sue me!
It doesn’t matter whether or not you are getting any money for the infringement, using someone’s material that is copyrighted without following the Fair Use doctrine or without asking can get you in some big trouble.
Fair use is easy to understand
Are you serious? 
Copyrights cover names
Actually names are covered by trademarks.
Copyrights = An actual “work”, for example, the source code that makes up a program, the text in a book, or even a picture.
Trademarks = Names, logos, etc. Something that identifies a product or service.
Patents = Inventions.
Copyrights cover ideas
Nope. Copyrights cover works, not ideas.
They sent me the work via e-mail, so I can post it
Unless they stated you are allowed to use it, you can’t. It is that simple.
Works with no notice are in the public domain
The copyright notice or symbol is not required for copyrighted works. If you are unsure if something is copyrighted just ask the author of the work.
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