I'm not an attorney either, but 7 of them work for me, so I'll hoof the keyboard to the one not looking busy enough...
Amelia - in reply to your post, the answer is "yes and no" - as the good ol' USA is a signatory to the Berne Convention AND the UCC any artistic work is copyrighted implicitly to the creator but Congress modified the Convention slightly for residents, and requires the (C) symbol to prevent 'innocent use' defense in court. If you can prove that the work existed at or before a certain date then you can register the copyright retrospectively at the Library Of Congress ($30 fee) using your Berne rights to prove ownership and creation dates, should legal action be taken. However, to claim infringement of the work, sue for damages or prevent publication of something as well as registration it's necessary to prove that the derivative (the new book) was based on yours and not a coincidence - in other words the author would have to have had access to your story, and the balance of evidence would then need to show it was your story that contributed to the work, in a way not possible without it. This is the end-point of the whole Dan Brown legal fiasco - having a 'broadly similar idea' is not infringement if both parties got their inspiration from something in the public domain, like a historical event. Proving a plot is a derivative work can be difficult unless there are statistically improbable similarities (character names, etc.).
In your case it's the 'proving it existed on or before XXX' that'll decide everything - LOC registration does that, but the courts tend to accept very few other types of proof (very specifically sealed registered mail is one, a copy lodged with a public official is another, but existence online is rarely accepted as legal proof of provenance when money is concerned, as electronic records can be altered. Not easily, but they can - whereas the LOC registration gets you a physical wallet in their basement with a handwritten dated signature on it).
This link:-
http://bandfoundry.draftlight.net/re...onventions.php
talks about music and video but applies equally to written works, lyrics and books.
mG
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