: My understanding of the law is that by registering an existing design you
: have immediate copyright protection (unlike patenting which can take years
: to take effect). My question is can US copyright laws be enforced in
: foreign countries. My assumption is that some trade agreements call for
: reciprocity of copyrights but can anyone shed some light on how this works
: in practice. I also know that countries like China have whole factories
: devoted to illegal copying of Microsoft software.

The hard part is not whether the laws provide protection in foreign countries, it is whether you can afford to do what it takes to enforce what protection you legally have. It is not like you can call up the cops in Croatia and have them haul a splasher to jail. The legal protection is only as powerful as your willingness to track down violators and bring them into local court. Then you need to prove that they stole your design.

For some people stealing your design, just a nicely written letter from a lawyer stating the potential ramifications of failure to cease and desist will be sufficient to scare them off. With others you may have to be a little more persistent.

I suspect many of these countries have laws on their books stating that they will abide by copyrights registered in foreign countries, but that doesn't mean they bother to enforce these laws.