It wasn't until the late 20th century that somebody figured out how to put wheels on luggage so I guess I can't fault the Copyright Office for waiting until 2007 to offer "eCo," the electronic copyright application system. Actually, it's only available in a limited beta version but the results so far seem worthwhile. I played with it with fellow copyright nerd Stephen ("Public Domain") Fishman and we registered an unpublished literary work without too much problem though we crashed once, thought our data was lost, and then miraculously saw it resurrected when we logged back on.
How long did it take to file? Steve and I managed our single literary work registration - paying by credit card and uploading a digital word file - in about fifteen minutes. I'll report later about how long eCo takes to mail out a registration.
The Pros: The system has some neat features including the ability to store templates for various applicants, maintain a profile and an address book, preregister claims and manage all your open applications on one page. And hey shoppers, what about that $35 registration fee -- $10 off the regular price?
The Cons: The system is surprisingly funky in appearance, not very intuitive, and a little bit tempermental (use the "Save for Later" button periodically). All-in-all, these are the kinds of bumps that will be cured after a decent usability study. Hey, this is beta, right?
For more on how you can copyright the old fashioned way, check out Steve's great book The Copyright Handbook: What Every Writer Needs to Know (Nolo).
