Question about intellectual property when it comes to novels

Hello.
I am an aspiring author living in the United States of America. I have read that when you complete a novel or other literary works, the intellectual property becomes yours automatically, even if you don't register it. Is that true? Thank you.

yes, any work is covered by copyright protection merely by the act of producing it in a tangible form. There are benefits to registering your rights though. If nothing else, it supports your claim to actually owning the rights but there are other benefits as well.

justalayman said:

yes, any work is covered by copyright protection merely by the act of producing it in a tangible form. There are benefits to registering your rights though. If nothing else, it supports your claim to actually owning the rights but there are other benefits as well.

Click to expand...

Alright, thank you very much. I'm just going to go ahead and get my work copyrighted. I always thought that it was multiple thousands of dollars to do this, but I've read it's only around $100. Could anyone point me in the right direction to begin the process? Thanks again.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-register.html