Copywrite and You, Short and Sweet!
The copywrite laws of the United States are written to protect you the writer; hence the term Copywrite. Simply stated this little symbol © (which if you’re using MS Office, you can insert into your article or story by hitting, alt 0169 on your keyboard) is all you need by law to give any written work the protection of the copywrite laws. You can take it one step further; however I’ll get into that in a minute.
Basically what the copywrite law states is that only you as the author of any given works (you have created yourself), is the only one that knows the outcome of that work, so the moment you add the copywrite symbol, ©, (remember? Alt 0169) it is protected.
I have made up a basic manuscript that I use for almost everything I write. I have included the title of the article or story, my name, the year in which it was created, (exact date is saved on my computer) and the copy write symbol all in the header as in the example above or below.
Project Title
By: J. Francis © 2009
That’s it, that’s all you need to protect your work, however for whatever reason I seem to make sure everyone knows this particular work is mine and add this little statement at the end of the article.
©, 2010 J. Francis – All rights reserved. If for no other reason, it makes me feel better.
Oh yeah; don’t forget to change the year in the header on Jan 1.
As I said yo
u can take the whole thing one step further, by paying the current 2010 fee of $35.00 to the U.S Copywrite office @ http://www.copyright.gov you can add that extra step of protection. My own feelings on this is that unless you are trying to protect a novel or screen play, which in addition you will want to register with the Library of Congress; this is simply not necessary. Adding that little copywrite symbol to that basic everyday stuff we write is all you need to prove the work is yours. Especially considering that fact that you have a permanent record stored on your computer. The screenshot on the left shows what that looks like. I hope this brief explanation helps to sort out just what a copywrite is, and how you can protect yourself.
I don’t want to over simplify this because there is a lot more to the copywrite laws than will fit in a brief explanation. To read more about the U.S. Copywrite laws click on the link above.
© 2010 J. Francis – All rights reserved. See what I mean
So, I read your blog and I have some questions. I write poetry and I like to lay may poems over photography and artwork that I find in various places, usually online, and I don’t want to violate anyone else of their copywrite entitlements nor do I want to lose the copywrite to my poetry due to ignorance by not getting someone’s permission to use their artwork or photography. Some of these artists and photographer’s are hard to find. What do I do when they can’t be located? Can I publish with a disclaimer recognizing them as the artist and making sure to name them? Also, how large a publication do I have to be making to justify seeking their permission? If it is only a poem for the member’s of my church; let’s say 200 people, do I still need to go through the process of locating the artist and obtaining their permission to use their artwork for such a minimal number of copies?
Jennifer
July 11, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Hi;
Saw your comment on the article I posted on the copywrite laws. When using a photo, unless it specifically states that it is copywrite free, I woud be very cautious about using someone elses photo in one of my articles. If you are unable to contact the photographer directly to obtain permission to use his work, I would simply not use it. There are many sites where you can obtain copywrite free photos, and graphics, some are free,and some are not. When publishing any article you are stating is your own work, it must be just that. Your own. You can use this link to read all about the copywrite laws.
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html
I hope this helps a little,
J. Francis
johnfwills
July 13, 2010 at 3:21 pm