If you scribble a silly poem called "Green Froggy Dance!" on a soggy napkin and tuck it under your mattress, that work is still copyright. It's not registered,

If you scribble a silly poem called "Green Froggy Dance!" on a soggy napkin and tuck it under your mattress, that work is still copyright. It's not registered, so your damages in case of infringement aren't the same, but nonetheless your work is your own. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright "In all countries that are members of the Berne Convention, copyright is automatic and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright."