Generally, no, it does not. As of 1978 in the USA, all works became copyrighted from the moment they were created, although published works still required copyright notice or registration until 1989.
Non-published works were given retro-active copyright from the date of creation to 70 years after the death of the author, if an individual, or 120 years from date of creation for any anonymous and pseudonymous works, or works made for hire, never published.
Laws of other countries may vary, but those under the Bern Convention do not generally require any formalities for copyright ownership to subsist in the works.
Yes; protection is automatic as soon as the work is fixed in a tangible medium.
Under US Copyright Law, copyright attaches as soon as a work is created, whether published or not. Published or unpublished works do not need to be "signed" to fall under copyright protection because the creation of a work already establishes copyright ownership.
Usually you have to be the author of a work to receive copyright protection. Rights can be transferred, but this is generally done in writing, and you'd probably know if rights had been transferred to you.
Yes. Copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work is fixed in a tangible medium; registration is not required for protection.
In most cases, for work published after 1923, copyright will expire at the end of the calendar year 70 years after the death of the original author.
Text is not copyright-free unless it was created or published so long ago that the copyright has expired, or if the text does not qualify as having sufficient "creative work of original authorship" to trigger any copyright protection.
None. Protection is automatic as soon as the work is fixed in a tangible medium.
A work is protected by copyright as soon as it is fixed in a tangible medium, i.e. even before it was published.
Written works are protected by copyright as soon as they are "fixed" in a tangible format, which is to say written down. Publishing is no longer required for protection.
copyright
Yes; because registration is not required, copyright protection is automatic.
Indeed. The copyright symbol, ©, indicates the work is (or was) protected by copyright; such notification is not required for protection on publications after 1989 in the USA. Many works published prior to 1963 had © or "copyright" notice, but expired after 28 years.