I'm not a lawyer, but it has been my understanding that, in order to 'sue' for monetary 'damages', the copyright *must* be registered - otherwise, the best you can hope for is a 'cease and desist' order.
I am unaware of the registration process. It may add to proving the case that one is actually the holder of copyright, although any record of the date of the publication should be sufficient to prove ownership.
The issue of damages is indeed difficult. A copyright holder can usually get an order to cease from a court. In order to get damages, there must be an actual loss by the copyright holder. There is some difficulty with this if the copyright holder offered the work for free, with the intention of reaching as many people as possible. As a consultant, my pages and articles on the Web are intended to attract customers to me. If someone in India reproduces my articles on their Web site and if they win business in India as a result, it might be extremely difficult for me to prove loss, as the Indian client might not have considered engaging a consultant who is based in New Zealand. So the offender may gain without me suffering any actual loss.
Regards, David
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