Welcome to the WEP's For
Your Information Segment.
You may be at the beginning of your writer's journey or well along the road. A vexing question that pops up again and again is 'what about copyright?' So, today we have Ellen M Kozak an attorney in
copyright, publishing, entertainment and media law from Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
to explain exactly How You "Get" a Copyright.
Ellen, take it away...
It’s a question I’m frequently asked by writers,
photographers, musicians, and visual artists:
“How do I get a copyright in my work?”
Actually, you don’t have to do anything to “get” a
copyright in your work. You have it as
soon as your work meets two criteria: it
must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression and it must be original.
Although there is no copyright protection for facts
or for an idea, the way in which you express those facts or ideas can be
copyrighted. Assuming that your work is
long enough (and a haiku is long enough, although a name or short phrase is not),
the next step is fixation.
In order to be protected by U.S.
That allows for works that you have scribbled,
dictated into your cell phone, or typed into your computer. But your work
needs to be capable of being read back, so if you’re using odd or obsolete
technology, it’s often best to have a paper copy as well.
Originality
means, essentially, that you thought it up yourself, without copying it from
anyone else. Originality is found in the
way you express an idea, so a mere alphabetical list, no matter how long you
spent compiling it, is not likely to qualify unless you were also selective in
creating it. You also cannot protect a
mere list of ingredients for a recipe with a copyright. However, if you attach descriptions to the
things on that list, and those descriptions are in your own words - or if the
directions for your recipe include anecdotes about your experiences in making
the dish-- then the way you have expressed those facts usually passes the
threshold for originality.
No search is necessary to determine if a work is
original, and it is altogether possible that two people could create similar
works without ever seeing each other’s work.
When that happens, the law considers both works to be copyrightable and
each author owns the copyright in his or her own work - in the work as a whole,
and in every part of it.
When a work is created by more than one person,
even if the contributions are not equal, the work may be a “joint work.” All
people who contribute copyrightable elements to a joint work are co-owners of
the entire copyright in the joint work, and any one of them can exploit it
without the consent of the others, so long as any proceeds are shared.
This makes it important to have agreements with
all people contributing creative content to a work - agreements that specify what
rights, if any, each of the participants will have in it.
Assuming your story, song, painting, photograph,
or other original work passes these tests - that it is original, that it is fixed, that it
is either solely your creation or that you have made appropriate agreements
with other participants concerning copyright ownership-- you don’t have to do
anything more to “get” the copyright.
Acts like registering your copyright or putting a
copyright notice on the work can make your rights more enforceable, but they
are not required for copyright ownership, because the copyright exists whether these things are done or
not.
-#-
Thank you Ellen, we
appreciate your expertise. Folks, if you have questions, please leave a comment.
We will pass them on to Ellen, if she can answer them she will.
That is it folks, as simple as that. "The minute you preserve
the work in some form that can be read back, you own the copyright in it;
basically, copyright ownership is that simple."
Understand this "You cannot lose a copyright unless you sign
it away! U. S. Copyright further states that it must be in writing and signed
by the copyright owner."
The Berne Convention was first signed at Berne, Switzerland, on
September 9, 1886. The United States became a member of the community of
nations that have signed this treaty as of March 1, 1989.
What this means is that if you are a writer or author who lives in
one of the 164 countries that are part of the convention, you are covered under
this copyright law. Countries include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Australia, and the European Union.
To mark your work as copyright all you need is the word Copyright
or the symbol © (just type a parenthesis (then a C and then a closing
parenthesis – do not put a space between the symbols. Or you'll see this ( C )
without the spaces you have this ©. Next is the date in which the work was
first published, and then the name of the author. For instance, I publish all
my work online with the following.
*****
If you are looking for legal help, please seek the
laws of the country where you reside or publish.
Neither Denise nor I are attorneys and cannot offer
legal advice. Our only goal in the publication of these facts was to give
information and to aid the participants who voluntarily share their work with
the WEP. You retain the right to your creation; we only offer a place to share
and receive feedback.
The above link provides several copyright
articles from Writers Knowledge Base, depending what tack you are taking on the
topic.
Writer's
Knowledge BaseThe Writers Knowledge Base is a very useful resource. Here you
can find the best articles covering just about anything you want to know about
writing/publishing your book -how to write blurbs, synopses, elevator pitches,
taglines...and, well, everything a writer needs to know.
Halloween is coming
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The WEP's For Your Information Segment How to "Get"
a Copyright #WEPFF Write…Edit…Publish @YolandaRenee & @DeniseCCovey http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-do-you-get-copyright-ellen-m-kozak.html
Ellen Kozak, attorney in copyright law is guest posting at
the #WEPFF @YolandaRenee & @DeniseCCovey http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-do-you-get-copyright-ellen-m-kozak.html
Copyright = tangible medium and original, is it that easy?
#WEPFF Ask Ellen
Kozak. @YolandaRenee & @DeniseCCovey http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-do-you-get-copyright-ellen-m-kozak.html
