Getting a copyright is simple, it’s automatic, no paperwork required. Now we’re working to make protecting your copyright just as easy

That’s why we’ve teamed up with Facebook Connect to allow you to sync your Myows account to your Facebook profile.

First up there’s the obvious time saving advantage (no more lost passwords or sifting through all those usernames you’ve been collecting over the years). But there’s an added legal advantage too!

Part of Myows’ job is to link you with the Original Work that you created at the time at which you uploaded it. In fact, that’s the heart of what Myows does. We create and verify evidence that allows you to link yourself to the cool things you make and helps you protect them.

But who are you?

In terms of your Myows account, up until now, you’ve been a name, email address and password. If you’re extra thorough, you may also have recorded your address, date of birth and other particulars under the account tab. But now, by linking your Myows account to your FB account, you can establish your identity beyond reasonable doubt.

That will help prove that YOU were the one that opened your Myows account and YOU are the person that uploaded the OWs which Myows helps you protect. After all, it doesn’t get much more personal than your FB profile. (Of course, if you don’t feel confortable linking the two, you don’t have to. Your Myows account will still work exactly the same).

Syncing is easy – you’ll notice on the Myows signup/login screen a Facebook button at the top of the screen – click on this to link your existing Myows account to your FB profile. Once you’ve done this you’ll be able to access your Myows account using your Facebook login. No mess, no fuss… and if you’re a first time user, you’ll be able to create a new account off the back of your existing FB profile too.

The result: it’s now easier than ever to set up a new Myows account for first time users (feel free to spread the word).

Amber Leigh Turner is a freelance web designer who recently launched a community website aptly called Students That Freelance.

In yesterday’s article, Amber relates how she discovered through Statcounter that someone was using her work without her permission. She subsequently used Myows to have the copy removed and even received a letter of apology.

Are you wondering how that is possible? Then read her very well written article Why No One is Invincible from Copyright Infringement on StudentsthatFreelance.com

DISCLAIMER: I’m the one who recommended Statcounter to Amber. If you decide to give it a try, I need to warn you: Statcounter will bring out the voyeur in you and can become very addictive. For small to medium websites I personally much prefer it to Google Analytics, and I’m slowly recovering from my stataholic addiction.

Take fuss-free copyright management to the next level.

Get your hands dirty with Myows’ publicly available API, fresh from the desks of our globally-scattered development team. This brings us one step closer to our platform-vision: helping the planet’s switched-on creative community help themselves. We’re looking for Myows members to help us add further functionality to the existing app at Myows.com. The brief is straightforward:

1- Use the new Myows API to develop a plug-in, add-on or stand alone application that assists other Myows members in registering, protecting and/or managing their rights

2- Develop this solution in a way that allow users to access key functionality in 4 steps or less

3- Implement your code and design with integrity, simplicity and elegance

We’re looking for plug-ins, add-ons and stand alone applications that improve the user experience and add useful functionality. To participate, you’ll need to create a thread before 15th May in our API forum category and provide a link to a demo of your app.

Fellow Myows users will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites from 15th till 31st May 2010. The winner takes home an Apple iPad (yeah, we’re self-funded!) and so does the runner-up (…yet generous!). We are also busy putting together a panel of industry heavyweights to award a jury’s grand prize of 1000$ to the app that best fulfills conditions 1,2 & 3 above.

Finally, any developer who creates an app we deem to be even vaguely useful and presentable will receive a lifetime Myows pro account (valued at over 1000$). Again – that’s just the kind of guys we are.

Feel free to create apps for resale (on Themeforest or CodeCanyon for instance) or build your own business on top of the Myows API. Obviously, we’d like you much more if you made your work available to the world for free, but we’ll get over it.

Feel free to run ideas and questions by the Myows team and other members by posting them up on the Forum. We are all here to help. Good luck. Be creative.

EDIT: Nettuts has published a video tutorial prepared by Dave:
How to Create an App with the Myows API (15 minutes).

The question essentially is this: because USCO is available to US users and certain rights are exclusively granted to parties that register their work with this authority, what is the point of using Myows? Here’s my opinion on the matter.

Myows was started as an effective response to the problem of growing copyright infringement globally – especially due to increased internet penetration and the resulting ease with which work can be stolen, copied and sold online.

In most countries, copyright is automatically assumed by the author when an original work is created. When two parties dispute copyright in a particular work, the arbitrator or judge looks at the evidence provided by both and decides accordingly to whom the copyright belongs.

The US is the only country, to my knowledge, that allows for the registration of copyrightable material but this does not require the registration thereof in order to claim copyright in the US – a common misconception.

Parties who have not registered their work with USCO still have the same essential rights as those who do so but with a two key exceptions:

- If your case lands up in a US court, you will be presumed to be the owner of the work if it was registered with USCO and the burden of proof would then rest with the other party to show that the copyright does, in fact, not lie with you.If the other party can prove that they were the original creator, then your rights – even as an USCO registered creator – will fall away, unless you could prove that the other party ceded their rights to you.

- Should they win their case, users of USCO will be able to claim punitive damages in addition to other damages. However, a non-USCO user would still be able to issue an injunction against unauthorized infringement and claim for loss of income if commercial loss can be established.

Bear in mind that these differences only become relevant if a dispute is escalated to full-blown litigation which is both expensive and time consuming and is not really feasible for many creators (especially those who consistently produce larger quantities of work).

USCO registration will likely have no bearing on cases involving cross-border copyright theft where at least one party is not a citizen of (or registered in) the US.

Myows is primarily a management app.

The protection facility is a very important part of the offering presented to the Myows community but it forms part of a wider management function.

Sure, Myows creates valid and valuable evidence for you, but it also stores and arranges your evidence along with the original files (of all kinds). The service goes way beyond registration.

Myows allows you to organize all of your copyrightable material along with associated licenses, releases and cases past and present.

Myows also gives you access to legal templates, provides you with sound legal information and helps you follow the correct procedural steps when dealing with infringements, assisting in ensuring that you are in compliance with the law.

The scope of the app will eventually extend beyond even this (for example: suggesting dispute resolution options and putting you in touch with legal advice in your area). These functions are clearly outside the ambit of USCO, they are also not at odds with USCO’s services.

Myows is free and instant.

Basic USCO registration takes a while to process and costs $35 minimum. You could also end up paying for other sundry items thereafter (Issuance of a receipt for a sec 407 deposit = $30).

If you write 3 blog articles a day or take 50 new pics a month and you want to register them with the government office, it’s going to cost you serious time and money. Myows saves you both and it is easy and enjoyable to use, whilst still creating genuine and useful evidence.

Essentially, USCO and Myows are not mutually exclusive

To be honest, if I were based in the US I would upload all my work to my Myows account. Then, when I created something very unique and valuable with an imminent and high threat of theft, I would also register that work with USCO.

And what would I do with my proof of USCO registration? I’d save it with the corresponding work on Myows of course.

Find out more about USCO at: http://www.copyright.gov/

* Footnote: Myows has been designed, in part, to represent a global copyright savvy community.

It is an app as well as a movement and we need as much support as possible if we are to achieve our goal of empowering creators and reducing the incidence of online copyright. Strength in numbers is also something to think about here if the idea appeals to you too!