Copyright Blues

About a year and a half ago I took on a music video project for a local band. Like an idiot, as if I didn't know any better, I went ahead with the production without getting any papers signed. Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, once the project was fully completed the issue of copyrights came up. We could not come to an amicable agreement as far as who owned the copyright. It got so bad that I even had to contact a lawyer for advising. Now, my lesson is learned, and I would like to share the basics of what I learned with you.

COPYRIGHT TIPS
-ideas are not cannot be copyrighted.
-an idea can be copyrighted once it is translated or recorded onto a fixed medium. (e.g. the story concept of a quirky supernatural detective is not copyrighted when you talk to your buddy about it. It becomes copyrighted once you write the idea down, say in a form of a novel or a script.)
-Once the idea is in a fixed medium you automatically own the copyright. You don't have to register anything. However, registering your work with the Library of Congress, or or any respectable institution like the Writer's Guild , provides you with official dated proof that you are the first person to ever have copyright on that particular idea.
-Warning, the poor-man's copyright (mailing something to yourself in a seal envelope) is too easy to fake, and therefore does not hold water in court.
-If you are hired by someone to undertake a creative endeavor, they do not own copyright to what you do unless it is a "work-for-hire" or unless you willingly donate to them, in writing. Otherwise, just because someone asked you to do something for them, it doesn't automatically mean that they have rights to the copyright of the work.
-Lastly, make sure everything, all agreements, stipulations, EVERYTHING is done on paper, signed and dated. It'll save you the headache in the end.

Here is the music video project I had copyright problems with last year. It ended basically in a stalemate. Here on this Youtube entry, you see the project as posted by the band, sadly stripped away of any of the credits to my company. Sad sad sad. Twas a fun project though.