To copyright something that has been documented in any type of media, it should be signed and dated. And, you should be able to prove that you are the original owner of the work. If you do not have your work copyrighted and ownership documented in a legally acceptable manner, you will not be able to sue someone to claim statutory damages.
In reality, the work is automatically copyrighted to you the sooner you complete your work or the task, whether it is a written work, art work or creative job of any type. However, when it comes to disputes and legal reasoning, it is all going to be based on black and white proof.
Copyrighting and Proving your Ownership
The simplest method of copyrighting and proving your ownership over a specific creation is to record a copy of your document in the copyright office. While you will get quick copyright protection and valid proof, you might have to pay some fee for registration at the US copyright Office.
Want To Create Copyright Proofs
If you want to create copyright proofs for most of your work, for instance, for programs and creative writing works that undergo several steps of editing and reediting, you might want to copyright each of those versions as well. Unlimited copyright registrations come for a very cheap price. All you should be doing with these services is to upload a digital copy of your work after registering at the website. The sooner you upload your copy you will get the unique registration number, which can be used as a future proof to retain the copy from the website to proceed towards legal again if required.
Third Party Copyright Proof Creation
Third party copyright proof creation is valid to create future registrations at the US copyright office when dispute arises. If you choose, you can copyright your work both at the US Copyright Office and at the online copyright registration service as well.