How to copyright?

[Leonardo]

How does one copyright material, especially if you not using traditional publishing routes - such as pdf, or even printing at a Kinko's?

In the live performance world, simply creating choreography (dance or fight) means it is yours - but proving that can sometimes be difficult. Does such a thing exist in the writing world?

Any input from the veterans would be greatly appreciated by this rookie.

[DarnFunGames]

How does one copyright material, especially if you not using traditional publishing routes - such as pdf, or even printing at a Kinko's?

In the USA, Copyright affixes automaticly as soon as you produce a work in a tangable form. However, you can also register the copyright. http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ has some more information on registering copyright. It's fairly easy, but not terribly quick.


Paul M. Starr

[Pyske]

Back when I wanted to be a writer, I was given this advice:

When you mail your publication to the copyright office (or otherwise distribute it), make a duplicate copy and send it to yourself by mail.

As long as the package you send yourself REMAINS UNOPENED, the dated postmark can be used as evidence in copyright suits that your version existed as of the date on the postmark. (You could also go to a notary and have them date it and affix their seal, but that's generally more expensive.)

. . . . . . . -- Eric

[cmdicely]

Originally posted by Pyske
Back when I wanted to be a writer, I was given this advice:

When you mail your publication to the copyright office (or otherwise distribute it), make a duplicate copy and send it to yourself by mail.

As long as the package you send yourself REMAINS UNOPENED, the dated postmark can be used as evidence in copyright suits that your version existed as of the date on the postmark. (You could also go to a notary and have them date it and affix their seal, but that's generally more expensive.)

. . . . . . . -- Eric

Lots of people give this advice, but everyone seriously involved in writing and publishing I've heard says that it is not all that valuable. At any rate, you have to register before you can file a suit for infringement (if your work originates in the US), and if you do so within five years, the certificate of registration itself is prima facie evidence of everything covered by the certificate.

[Pyske]

Originally posted by cmdicely


Lots of people give this advice, but everyone seriously involved in writing and publishing I've heard says that it is not all that valuable.

Fair enough; I stand corrected.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

[Chris Aylott]

I would add the following to Paul and cmdicely's advice: don't worry about it.

For some reason, every rookie writer is convinced that his work is in dire need of copyright protection. It isn't. Most people don't have the slightest interest in stealing another writer's work (especially the work of rookie writers, which tends to suck).

The folks that *do* steal work don't care whether it's copyrighted or not. The "make me color photocopies of Dune" discussion on the main forum is a perfect example of that.

So put the copyright notice on the work, register it if you feel you must, and stop worrying about it. Unless you have a pack of attack lawyers on call, you're not going to be able to do anything about copyright infringements anyway, so why not get on with something productive instead?

yours,

[Ghost]

Originally posted by Chris Aylott
I would add the following to Paul and cmdicely's advice: don't worry about it.

For some reason, every rookie writer is convinced that his work is in dire need of copyright protection. It isn't. Most people don't have the slightest interest in stealing another writer's work (especially the work of rookie writers, which tends to suck).

The folks that *do* steal work don't care whether it's copyrighted or not. The "make me color photocopies of Dune" discussion on the main forum is a perfect example of that.

So put the copyright notice on the work, register it if you feel you must, and stop worrying about it. Unless you have a pack of attack lawyers on call, you're not going to be able to do anything about copyright infringements anyway, so why not get on with something productive instead?

yours,

--------------------------------------------------

Yep, thats largly the case, anyone intent on stealing your work will almost certainly be bigger and better off than you and will just hurl lawyers at a case till its over, if they don't win they tend to shrug it off anyway.
As for having a pack of attack lawyers on call, don't bother, I have (as part of my Federation Of Small Business beefits) and its largly a waste of the retainer, there advice is almost always "Just get in touch with the other side and try to settle" the more urgently you need them the less use they tend to be!
Ghost

[Rallan]

I'm with that Chris guy on this one. Unless you're at the stage where you're going to have your work published, distributed, and (hopefully) sold, registering copyright is something you won't have to worry about. If you're not seriously trying to make a profit, then shelling out to register your material and protect your rights is a needless expense.



Rallan

[Jack]

Originally posted by Ghost

As for having a pack of attack lawyers on call, don't bother, I have (as part of my Federation Of Small Business beefits) and its largly a waste of the retainer, there advice is almost always "Just get in touch with the other side and try to settle" the more urgently you need them the less use they tend to be!
Ghost

As a lawyer, I'd say this is about right. Don't hire us until you need us. We're expensive and we can't do work for free even if we wanted to (do you know how much legal research costs us? that and firms frown on free legal work). This, BTW, goes for that craptacular advice about getting a lawyer to look over the OGL before doing your small press d20 book as well...
(and to use that as an example...after reading up on OGLs, reading your work to see if it complies, researching what the hell you work is anyway since most lawyers will have no idea...well, even at 50-75 an hour for a clerk that gonna be a lot of dough...more than you'll make on almost any game)

[JBuergel]

One thing you can try that worked for me is to see if there is a non-profit organization that provides legal help for artists in your area. Washington Laywers for the Arts (I believe that was what it was called) provided a consultation with a lawyer who knew intellectual property law, and all that they asked for was a small donation to the fund. It certainly settled my mind. For the record, the other advice on this thread is pretty spot on.

[Jack]

Originally posted by JBuergel
One thing you can try that worked for me is to see if there is a non-profit organization that provides legal help for artists in your area. Washington Laywers for the Arts (I believe that was what it was called) provided a consultation with a lawyer who knew intellectual property law, and all that they asked for was a small donation to the fund. It certainly settled my mind. For the record, the other advice on this thread is pretty spot on.

True, a lot of those institutions exist and they need donations to keep going, and their advice is just as good as a high priced attorney...sometimes better. Also a bit of private research is a good way to go...as is having a buddy who practices law and is willing to do a bit of side work. In truth, most questions can be answered in a short period of time...but at hourly rates for many firms that short period of a few hours can become too expensive. Also, I

[Gimgolas]

Since I've been writing, I too have thought about protecting my work. And from my findings, the best advice I have been given, and it was by a lawyer. Was simply this, when you have a completed work or something you feel you NEED to protect, go to the post office and send it to yourself via registered mail. This way not only do you have an unopened postmarked evidence, but you also have to sign for the envelope and that is kept on file by the United States Postal Service. Which gives you two ways to prove that it was truly created before that date. And other published authors I've talked to have backed up this way of initially protecting your work. It is the cheapest way to handle the situation. Just be sure that if you are going to do it that you write down somewhere exactly what is in the contents of the envelope and put that somewhere you will remember it. Nothing worse than having an unopened mail item with a date on it and then not remembering what specifically was in the envelope.


Jeremy

[RpmQ]

This is for graphic artists. Writing works should be similar, and I am fairly certain there is a writers guild out there somewhere as well... But this link to a PDF file explains everything about copyrighting for artists fairly well...

(See page 4 of it)

http://www.gag.org/res/guildnews/99_11_12.pdf

-r

[jackson1252]

The US copyright office has a lot of good info on the subject - as other posts have mentioned it is $30 per application. Check out their Circulars section for instructions on how to do it - these can be a bit confusing though - as these discourage me from doing it myself. I could have probably have done it myself but was hesitant.

There are lots of services out their that will do it for you pretty cheaply - Legalzoom [www.legalzoom.com], EssentialCopyright (software) [www.esoftwareinc.com], registercopyright.com, and a bunch of others. I ended up going with EssentialCopyright - the software - because you can copyright all your stuff for just the price of the software and use it over and over VS the alternative of the online services which charge you for each application. Anyway - shop around - there are a lot of options!

Cheers!

[LBrownIII]

And from my findings, the best advice I have been given, and it was by a lawyer. Was simply this, when you have a completed work or something you feel you NEED to protect, go to the post office and send it to yourself via registered mail.

This technique, known as the poor man's copyright, is an urban myth, based on laws that haven't been in effect for about 120 years. The last remnants of it were swept away in the 1960s, when evidentiary laws changed. You can read something about it here: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/copyright.html, http://www.snopes.com/legal/postmark.asp, and http://www.rightsforartists.com/copyright.html, just for starters.

If you're worried about someone stealing your rights, all you're doing is sticking a big "Amateur" sign on your forehead. Let it go. Once you start selling significant numbers, factor in copyright registration with your costs and don't stress out over it.

Somebody already mentioned www.copyright.gov and the Berne Convention (available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html). Read those, google some commentary if you like, and worry about the next item on your list.