Published content protection pathway

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and system for providing copyright protection for media content prior to publication from within a running media-publishing software application by automatically assembling and electronically submitting a copyright application for the media content to the United States Copyright Office through the use of a portable application programming interface, which may be utilized by third-party media-publishing applications, and then automatically publishing the media content through the media-publishing application once submission of the electronic copyright application for the media content is confirmed. Additionally disclosed is a method and system of registering media content in order to memorialize the creation of the media content from within a running media-publishing application through the use of a application programming interface, which may be utilized by third-party media-publishing applications, and then automatically publishing the media content through the media-publishing application once registration of the media content is confirmed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for operating a host computing device to obtain copyright protection for media content within a media-publishing application, the method comprising:
 capturing media content by a media-publishing application running on the host computing device;   based upon user input received via the media-publishing application running on the host computing device and from within the media-publishing application, launching a copyright registration application running on the host computing device via an Application Program Interface (API) of the media-publishing application running on the host computing device and an API of the copyright registration application running on the host computing device, wherein the API of the copyright registration application supports presentation of an icon within a user interface of the media-publishing application, and wherein selection of the icon supports launching the copyright registration application; and   the copyright registration application running on the host computing device:
 receiving the media content from the media-publishing application via the API of the media-publishing application and the API of the copyright registration application; 
 obtaining copyright registration information for the media content based upon at least one of user input and stored data; 
 accessing a remote copyright registration data web server via the Internet; 
 retrieving recorded user information for a user from the remote copyright registration data web server; 
 uploading the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server; 
 receiving payment information via user input; 
 interfacing with the remote copyright registration data web server to generate an electronic copyright application using the copyright registration information, the recorded user information, the payment information, and the media content; 
 interfacing with the remote copyright registration data web server to electronically submit the electronic copyright application to a copyright registration server; and 
 receiving a confirmation of submission of the copyright registration application; 
   automatically publishing the media content by the media-publishing application after the confirmation of submission is received; and   the copyright registration application running on the host computing device presenting an option to upload the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server without applying for copyright registration.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media-publishing application captures one or more of video recordings, photographs, audio recordings, text data, or graphics data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein launching the copyright registration application running on the host computing device is performed without exiting the media-publishing application. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , the user input received via the media-publishing application to cause launching of the copyright registration application comprises user selection of an icon representing the copyright registration application that is presented via a user interface of the media-publishing application. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the copyright registration application uploading the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server for subsequent access by the copyright registration application running on the host computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the media-publishing application presenting a selectable icon to access the copyright registration application and at least one selectable icon to access at least one corresponding content sharing application. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the host computing device is a mobile computing device. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the media-publishing application is a third party media-publishing application. 
     
     
         9 . A system comprising:
 memory;   at least one processor;   an instruction storage module storing instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:   capture media content by a media-publishing application;   based upon user input received via the media-publishing application and from within the media-publishing application, launch a copyright registration application via an Application Program Interface (API) of the media-publishing application and an API of the copyright registration application, wherein the API of the copyright registration application supports presentation of an icon within a user interface of the media-publishing application, and wherein selection of the icon supports launching the copyright registration application; and   via the copyright registration application:
 receive the media content from the media-publishing application via the API of the media-publishing application and the API of the copyright registration application; 
 obtain copyright registration information for the media content based upon at least one of user input and stored data; 
 access a remote copyright registration data web server via the Internet; 
 retrieve recorded user information for a user from the remote copyright registration data web server; 
 upload the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server; 
 receive payment information via user input; 
 interface with the remote copyright registration data web server to generate an electronic copyright application using the copyright registration information, the recorded user information, the payment information, and the media content; 
 interface with the remote copyright registration data web server to electronically submit the electronic copyright application to a copyright registration server; and 
 receive a confirmation of submission of the copyright registration application; 
   automatically publish the media content by the media-publishing application after the confirmation of submission is received; and   the copyright registration application presents an option to upload the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server without applying for copyright registration.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the media-publishing application captures one or more of video recordings, photographs, audio recordings, text data, or graphics data. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein launching the copyright registration application is performed without exiting the media-publishing application. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , the user input received via the media-publishing application to cause launching of the copyright registration application comprises user selection of an icon representing the copyright registration application that is presented via a user interface of the media-publishing application. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the copyright registration application uploads the media content to the remote copyright registration data web server for subsequent access by the copyright registration application. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the media-publishing application presents a selectable icon to access the copyright registration application and at least one selectable icon to access at least one corresponding content sharing application. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the system is a mobile computing device. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 9 , wherein the media-publishing application is a third party media-publishing application. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the memory and the instruction storage module comprise a single memory structure.