Ahh...  Performing Arts -- that's what I needed to know!  Thank you for uploading the form, Bob!  :) 

Mel - wow - let me go downstairs and smoke a ciggy before I digest all of that - there's a lot there.  I'll read carefully, but you may want to explore that stolen work thing - infringement is infringement - by the way, my "theft" was by a media association.  Sounds like you're licensing the use of your work - no problem there.  If applicable to your situation, perhaps I'll send you the contract that was drawn up for a one time licensing that I granted - let me know if you think it might help (it was drawn up by my attorney who is a copyright lawyer.)
bob

MooRocca:
Really?  I wasn't aware that religious orgs get exemptions from "fair use" priveleges - seems unconstitutional to me - but I'm a blue state liberal, so what do I know about this new theocracy we're living in?

Anyway, what prevents you from copyrighting and just not displaying the copyright when you sell your work for one time use? 

I hear you on the ignoring infrinements and the not going after people and risking "implied doman" sounds plausible, but the fact would remain that if a work is copyrighted, the owner should get to choose when they feel their work has been infringed.  (I'll check on this when my copyright attorney returns from vacation.)

Funny you say that about the photographer, when it happened to me, my sister started searching the web for unauthorized use of my stuff hoping for a finder's fee.  Also, the photogrpher is an excellent example of why one should copyright one's work - the suit is so much easier with protection, the fines are mandatory, your attorneys' fees would be paid - you're in the driver's seat.

On the professional writing side, I was a reporter for a newspaper several years ago.  Many times I'd be driving to work listening to the local news station and my gf would be amazed that there would be times the station would be reading a news story and I would finish the sentences - it was because they were reading my story verbatim - without credit, of course.  I had another situation where a rival paper took an obit I had written and printed it exactly as my paper did.  I called the other paper and asked to speak to the writer, told them I thought it was a great piece of writing - the person thanked me and told me how much work they did on it.  I was pissed - my managing editor fired off a letter to his counterpart and the person was fired - and rightly so.  My point is, theft of original work is everywhere.

Free Judith Miller,
bob

On the copyright bit of this discussion I’d like to bring up what I added to a previous one on these things:

There’s strength in numbers. AmIright is a public parody think tank institution. Any John Doe with his material on a single personal site in the dark alleys of the internet is more likely to be ”robbed” (by a thief out to make money from the theft) compared to anyone here publishing regularly and (let’s not forget) receiving votes and comments that goes to prove his/hers stuff have been acknowledged upon initial posting. I.e. witnesses!

I’m no expert on criminal behaviour but I think that it is far less likely that someone with such intent would steal a parody that appears on a clearly stated parody site like AmIright, with lots of visitors. And if the thief finds it somewhere else and aren’t smart enough to check for an original source... congrats, you and your lawyer then have two dumb a**es to go after for double compensation!

And all this goes to say that the more we comment on each others parodies and the more we highlight our really good stuff by entering it in forum competitions etc the more we help each other to protect our rights.

So if/when you have to bring someone to court, check to see who did comment on the parody in question and then have those of us flown in (on the dumb stealing shmuck’s expense) to witness on your behalf.

Not only would you win, not only would we get a paid for mini-gathering, but also there’s a nice little publicity story for you in the local press in such a meet-up.

Well K1chyd, I guess you didn't read my post.  That problem, parodies have been stolen by even media-related associations.  There are many people who think that the Internet is public domain - many intelligent people. 
In reality, our comments have nothing to do with preserving our rights.  You have rights the minute a work is created - the problem then becomes proving it.  Posting on the site becomes proof.  That being said, if a piece has been up there for six moths and has generated 20 comments, for example, it backs up your published proof.
Copyright the work and you won't have to worry about bringing someone into court, your award will be higher and your attorneys fees paid for.

You are correct though, failure to check ownership is not an excuse for copyright infringement.

I see how to register an individual work, but not as a group. And as i've said before, registering individually costs too much money - there is no way i could select few enough to count on one hand and I can't afford more than that.

Well K1chyd, I guess you didn't read my post.  That problem, parodies have been stolen by even media-related associations.

Oh, I read your post, and I especially liked the part where you phoned them and asked to speak to the writer.  ;D

Actually it was that morons stupid mistake to steal from another professional that I saw as a setup for my comment. Given the context of obits isn't fully compatible with parodies I'd still say it was a good example of why public stuff is "safer" than the John Doe site that after its first year still has only 370 hits on the counter (before taken away the extra hits from his mother's checking up on it every day).  :D

K - Sometimes, I don't think we really know where these things end up - my friends could forward my parody via email to someone with the author credit but if it continues to be forwarded who's to say that the credit doesn't disappear at some point (maybe someone else wants it to look they they did it, or any number of other reasons). 

MooRocca many great points - but one I didn't address was the "feeling" - when I discovered my parody was plagiarized - my gut hurt - I couldn't believe that anyone could do such a thing - hell, on one of my dog's parodies, I credited the person who gave me the idea - why not?  It wasn't my idea. 
But I must also admit to a little bit of flattery that professional writers would steal something of mine - of course I went immediately back to the anger stage.  It's a weird feeling. 

There are probably people stealing work from this site that we'll never know about.  But for $30, I'll take the insurance so that I don't have to worry about proving a case nor paying a $650 per hour lawyer.

Later,
bob