Copyright- How to do it in Spain

Someone has completely plagiarised (well copied word for word really) my flyer for my 'business' (I say it like that as I was legally self employed for a short while but, due to the massive contributions I had to pay, have since gone illegal).

How do I copyright my leaflet IN SPAIN? I have had a lot of advice for countries like America and UK but I need to know how to do it here, please? Any clues?

Are you referring to your advertising flyer?

I didn't know such things could be copyrighted. I thought only published documents could be copyrighted. But then again, what do I know!

Although I do find it interesting that you want to legally protect your document while you are working illegally!

Yeah, like I said, it took me a while to figure out that my line of business is mostly done illegally (alternative health). I just don't want this other fella to operate using my literature.

So what are you going to do, sue him?

I'd be very careful about making waves, as all he has to do is denounce you for operating 'on the black'.

You cannot expect the protection of the law if you operate outside of it.

No I don't want to sue him. All I want to do is know how to copyright my stuff. Thanks.

OK let's say just for the purpose of this thread that you can copyright your literature. What do you do if he persists in using your material?

You can't take him to court so what's the point?

I think if I get my work copyrighted/copywritten then it may deter people from plagiarising it in the future and although I do not intend to take any legal action against this person, it would perhaps help them see that I take the matter seriously as I put a lot of effort into creating the material.

Hope this clarifies things.

I'm not an expert on the issue, but since the patents and trademarks legislation is similar in most countries, you probably have to register you mark, signs and slogans with your closest office of “Marcas y Patentes” in Spain. Also I think you have to place the Trade Mark or Registered sign next to each name, logo or slogan you use. That should make 3rd parties aware that those names, logos and slogans are your creation. However, the only purpose of this is that you can sue the other party once they plagiarize your trademarks. But that kind of litigation is costly and hard to proof for small companies. So I would say that if your business is not legal or big enough to pay the services of a trademarks and patents lawyer, then forget about it.

I'm sorry about the plagiarism. I'll try to stop as soon as my business gets off the ground. In the mean time, you've misspelled two words, so actually it's not a verbatim copy. :p