Nope. If it's not legally copyrighted, then you'll have a hard time proving it's yours even if it is. It's easy to say I made this and have a tiny bit of proof that isn't really mine.
To all that believe you actually have to GET copyrights.. its false..
Copyright is in every country different, but it's like this:
When you create something, the copyright is yours, no matter what... You do NOT have to pay for it. But yes, it is true there are companies you can pay to deposit your work at.. this is usually the best and guaranteed approach to proof something is yours. Also there is something that is called registered trademark, which could be either a picture or a word. Registered trademarks can either be: your country only, or world wide.. in the last case it would obviously cost way more.
Now if you ask yourself, but how would one proof he made it??
Well there are a lot of different ways, you can be creative and think of a way to do it.. As long as you can proof the date.
a way a lot of people already know about:
- Put your work on a cd/usb (usb is better, since CD's dont last that long if its for a really long project.) then put it in an envelope, close it.. and mail it to your own address.. but DO NOT open it, until you might ever need it

And yes.. this is actually a good way to do it, also accepted by judges.
Any approach similar to this one is fine too..
Do note though that the date you send it to yourself, is the date you can prove its yours.. so if anyone is able to prove he made it BEFORE that date.. then you could be lost, unless you can come up with a strong argument
Anyway, on the (C) think, you can do it anyway you want.. if you think 2008-2010 looks nicer, than do it that way. Stating you have copyright has merely become a design thing
