I think that there's a misunderstanding here. Everybody has copyright on their work immediately. No need to put anything on it. And practically no need to register it at Copyright Office, except in case of coming to court, and even then you can register it after the case starts. Search on Google for "Brad Templeton" and "copyright myths". Put both phrases with quotation marks into the search box. BTW, LoC Copyright Office works only in the States. And I think that only in the States something like what happened to Walter Jon Williams with Wired magazine.

-- erlik