[drives fast]

Erwin,

You are correct in what you say about being the author. I was only trying to explain to everyone that was telling me I was wrong that even though a person is the actual author of something it can still be sucessfully "stolen".

An author will have all the necessary documentation (this covers originals, gernal logs, pictures, and witnesses) but a theif can create all of these things as well. If the theif creates all of these things also creating an earlier date of creation and registers the copyright first, he can sucessfully steal your work and you would be hard pressed to prove that you are the real owner and author.

If the theif is sucessful in doing all of this...the original author will have to try to sue the theif for infringment but has less than a 50% chance of sucess.

When you throw lawyers into the mix...lots of crazy stuff happens and things can turn out different depending on many factors.

This was the only point I was trying to make and was never intending the discussions to turn ugly.

while everyone that said that you have copyright just by creating something...they are mostly correct and in many cases, 100% correct but there are circumstances to every argument that have different outcomes.

I also apologize if I have offended anyone...I was offended myself being told I was wrong when I definately am not but as I stated in all three of these threads...I am speaking in the sense of a theif stealing someone's work....it happens all the time and is unfortunate. The biggest point I wanted to make when I was challenged on the copyright issue was...you must protect your work if it means your livelyhood and is highly important to you.....because if it is....it can be important to someone else to try to take it from you and leave you to spend thousands of dollard trying to prove it actually belongs to you. So don't feel secure that just because you created it....you can lose it too.

My confession
I am not a lawyer and I have never even earned a single credit for hours of law school....but....I have many dealings with the law and how these things work. I keep myself well read in many subject and aspects of laws due to being screwed over most of my life over one thing or another. I decided to start defending myself and the only way to do that is to educate myself. There is a world of information out there for the taking and there are also resources to help determine if the information you have gathered is accurate.
My friends tell me that I should have studied to be a lawyer since I like a good heated argument and they are right...I love it. I also am not too proud to back down when somebody proves me wrong....the good thing is that in law....there are so many gray areas...that is why there is court...to argue the gray areas and come to a decission one way or the other.

So please...i do not want to make enemies here so if I haven't given anyone their proper courtesy....I am sorry