In the US,if you decide to present yourself as professional you must obtain a copyright registration from the Library of Congress.At the bottom line you must demonstate "first use."A court case may be able to be won without a registration date,and you will still have to file anyway but you will be paying a very high commission to an attorney to do it.The prices they charge for that have become nothing short of outreaguous from what was once 10 bucks.And we had no representation on it,no vote,they just raised the fees so the higher-ups would receive handsome bonus checks for sitting upon their bum,they don't even drive their own car to work they use a company vehcle and charge their gas to me and you,oh yes...they ride for free!.Ahh,public servants as it were..And it takes now almost a year to hear from them back to tell you they cannot used the materials you sent because of an antrax threat,so you MUST also send it via registered mail.Another 13 bucks to the government.So you have to start from square one again and pay the fee twice.If you are not a major label artist submitting a "a work made for hire" to a big corporation they could give a shit about you,they will make it as hard and as expensive as possible to register your work.They are conditioned to mass media propaganda.They will be slow and indolent.I was mentored by a gentleman there,Ralph Gingery who taught me much about this as I ran the publishing arm of my first label.Expect asinine shoddy and careless service,expect it to be slow and expect them to go duh?Hang in there baby.Come what may in this fucked up world i still have my Gibson Les Paul Custom,A very dear friend is holding it for me.I am going to get my ink too...GIBSON on my right arm.At one time I had the highest regard for the Library of Congress,they now reside on my shit list.On the net at my website I demonstrate handily all of my first use from the demo's up.My commerce logo and all of that.This is not about money,it is about my life.My Les Paul Custom..Custom is so pretty.I love as much just to look at her and hold her as much as I do to play her.To tell her "I am here and your are safe."Polish her and change her strings.I don't even have to plug her into an amp.Big fat,thick neck with an ebony fingerboard of the most select african wood.Tone control to die for,the smallest tweak has an effect!Three big ass PF-90 pickups and it is the Mary Ford SG type which is my pref.Fits right into my arms and is as light as a feather.Has all of the sustain (perhaps more) than the standard bulky and bassy one.That big fat-ass neck built both for comfort and speed.No tremelo bar,I well know how to use one and can get a cheapo mexican stratocaster to blow your face off with tremelo technic yet all tremelo bars cause a les Paul to go out of tune.You want a stop tailpiece on tha axe.You really have to love them because you can't toss them around like a fender,I do also love fenders but I am not going to ink "fender" on my body.