If you are in the USA, go to the Library of Congress site and start reading the FAQ. The USA has its own system that despite purporting to observe the two basic copyright international conventions (the Berne Copyright Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention) is quite unlike anything else (although some Pacific area countries have more recently been bullied into systems that resemble the US system).

If you are in the UK, start with the Department of Trade and Industry (Patent Office) and the PRS and the MCPS.

If you are in Europe try the Europa site and maybe (I have not been there in ages) the Max Planck institute.