What You Need to Know About Copyright If you're pretty much a beginner at writing, and are in a writers' group, here's what you need to know about copyright. Copyrights protect things you write--stories, essays, books. Characters in fiction may be trademarked, but avoid using other people's characters and avoid suits even if the characters aren't trademarked. You can't copyright a title or an idea. Somebody else could easily write a paragraph or a book and use the title of this article--"What You Need to Know About Copyright." Somebody could write a book using the plot of "The Da Vinci Code" and it wouldn't violate copyright. But nobody can make an exact copy of more than a paragraph of your work without your permission, and not even that except under special circumstances noted below. Unfortunately, just how similar something can be without violating copyright is murky, and gets decided in court if somebody is angry enough. Everyone in a writing group should understand that there's a universal agreement that people won't steal other people's stuff. That should be clear from the beginning. Your work is, in fact, already copyrighted, the minute you write it. Anything you write is your property--a letter, a story, a memoir, a grocery list. That's the law. If anyone were to steal your work and publish it under any name but yours, you could easily get a lawyer to make them cease, although you couldn't collect monetary damages. So putting a copyright notice on it really isn't necessary. People like me who publish things on the Web just do it to scare off the ignorant. If you submit something to a magazine or publisher offering your work for publication, it's customary not to put a copyright notice on it. With a finished product that you intend to sell, you apply to the US Copyright Office for a formal copyright--it cost $30 last time I checked. When you have done that, you can not only make a thief stop using your work, you can sue for damages and win. Given all this, it's pretty safe to distribute your work to members of the group. If, however, you let other people, outside the group, have copies, it would be a good idea to put a copyright notice on it just to remind them not to try to sell it as their own. If you should decide to put a notice on your work, put the notice at the top of the work, on the first page. The notice must be in one of two forms: © 2004 John Doe or: Copyright 2004 Jane Doe It's pretty easy to avoid getting yourself accused of violating somebody else's copyright. "Fan Fiction," that is, stories using characters from books, movies, or TV programs, violates copyright--it's illegal. But many holders of copyrights for that sort of thing encourage fan fiction. Don't mess with Mickey Mouse, though, or Disney will be all over you. Titles and ideas can't be copyrighted, but don't use song lyrics, poems, or passages from books without permission. There's something called "fair use": copies of many things can be used for educational purposes, and reviewers can quote the material under review. This is all very vague, and can result in major lawsuits, so don't depend on it. Copyright is not something most people have to worry about. If you need more information, though, you can do a Web search or go direct to the U.S. Copyright site -- |
Carter Jefferson |
What You Need to Know About Copyright If you're pretty much a beginner at writing, and are in a writers' group, here's what you need to know about copyright. Copyrights protect things you write--stories, essays, books. Characters in fiction may be trademarked, but avoid using other people's characters and avoid suits even if the characters aren't trademarked. You can't copyright a title or an idea. Somebody else could easily write a paragraph or a book and use the title of this article--"What You Need to Know About Copyright." Somebody could write a book using the plot of "The Da Vinci Code" and it wouldn't violate copyright. But nobody can make an exact copy of more than a paragraph of your work without your permission, and not even that except under special circumstances noted below. Unfortunately, just how similar something can be without violating copyright is murky, and gets decided in court if somebody is angry enough. Everyone in a writing group should understand that there's a universal agreement that people won't steal other people's stuff. That should be clear from the beginning. Your work is, in fact, already copyrighted, the minute you write it. Anything you write is your property--a letter, a story, a memoir, a grocery list. That's the law. If anyone were to steal your work and publish it under any name but yours, you could easily get a lawyer to make them cease, although you couldn't collect monetary damages. So putting a copyright notice on it really isn't necessary. People like me who publish things on the Web just do it to scare off the ignorant. If you submit something to a magazine or publisher offering your work for publication, it's customary not to put a copyright notice on it. With a finished product that you intend to sell, you apply to the US Copyright Office for a formal copyright--it cost $30 last time I checked. When you have done that, you can not only make a thief stop using your work, you can sue for damages and win. Given all this, it's pretty safe to distribute your work to members of the group. If, however, you let other people, outside the group, have copies, it would be a good idea to put a copyright notice on it just to remind them not to try to sell it as their own. If you should decide to put a notice on your work, put the notice at the top of the work, on the first page. The notice must be in one of two forms: © 2004 John Doe or: Copyright 2004 Jane Doe It's pretty easy to avoid getting yourself accused of violating somebody else's copyright. "Fan Fiction," that is, stories using characters from books, movies, or TV programs, violates copyright--it's illegal. But many holders of copyrights for that sort of thing encourage fan fiction. Don't mess with Mickey Mouse, though, or Disney will be all over you. Titles and ideas can't be copyrighted, but don't use song lyrics, poems, or passages from books without permission. There's something called "fair use": copies of many things can be used for educational purposes, and reviewers can quote the material under review. This is all very vague, and can result in major lawsuits, so don't depend on it. Copyright is not something most people have to worry about. If you need more information, though, you can do a Web search or go direct to the U.S. Copyright site -- |
