[Steve Machol]

Today at 07:50 PM Erwin said this in Post #6
Advantages are for the copyright holder - who is the author of the work. If you copied my work, you are not the author, so you don't have copyright and thus any copyright you register is false and invalid in the first place.

Of course the advantages are to the copyright holder. That's a given. However what about a case in which two people claim authorship and only one of them has registered the copyright? Does the one with the registered copyright have an advantage in any legal proceedings?

My layperson's take on this is that all other evidence being equal, the one with the registered copyright will prevail. However this can be overcome with strong evidence to the contary.

I also wonder about this statement:

"Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin."

Does this mean the author does not have legal standing to bring an infringement suit unless he/she has registered the copyright? And if so, does a belated registration after the fact have any standing?

Interesting questions for your Law Class.