Poor man's copyright.
The poor man's copyright sounds like a great idea. But it isn't.
 As an alternative to offically registering your new artwork, you may have heard about the so-called ‘poor man’s copyright‘. This supposed cut-rate, lawyer-free method of copyright involves using the US Post Office as a method of copyrighting your artwork, and I suppose in context, your spanking new logo design. It often pops up on design forums as designers advise each other on methods (short of hiring a lawyer) of protecting this or that artwork. Here’s how a poor man’s copyright is supposed to work - you take your artwork, logo or written piece, place it in a sealed envelope and mail it to yourself, registered mail. The thought behind the process is that the US Post Office (as an official representative of the feds - itself questionable) has now ‘date stamped’ your artwork, proving once and for all the date that you’re claiming copyright. You can then put this unopened letter in a safe place, only to be opened as an ‘ah-ha’ moment in a court battle with the unscrupulous hack who’s now laying claim to your work. Must admit, it appears pretty sound. Trouble is, it probably won’t work, as your legal opponent will be able to prove quite readily in court that a poor man’s copyright can be faked (thus rendering it’s legal value moot). How?
Breathtakingly simple actually - you can send a registered letter to yourself in an unsealed envelope, and then place whatever you want in the envelope and then seal it. Any lawyer worth their salt could argue this in court and if that’s all you got, your ownership rights are sunk. It’s highly unlikely that any judge would be willing to accept this as evidence of anything other than your ability to send a letter to your home address. Here’s what the US Copyright Office has to say on the matter in their series of copyright FAQs -
I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.
There are other methods of proving copyright and more importantly date of claim - publication in a dated periodical (newspaper, magazine, etc) for example - and every use of your artwork acrues additional ownership and ability to prove when you created the artwork
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