You cannot “copyright” an idea
First, it is important to understand that you cannot “copyright”
an idea; you can only copyright what you have written. That is, you might have just
written the greatest self-help manual on how to breed guppies. And you did, indeed, file
for your copyright with the Library of Congress.
Three weeks after completing the formal copyrighting process, you find out
that the manager of your neighborhood pet store (where you’ve been buying your
guppies) has just sold the TV rights to a new hit show “Breeding Guppies” and he
is using many of the same principles that you’ve outlined in your manual on how to go
about guppy breeding.
So, naturally, since this is the 21st Century and you live in America, you
want to sue the guy. You think you have a sure thing, and you are dreaming of the
million-dollar award that the jury is sure to give you. But…you’d better not put
a down payment on that Guppy Farm in Iowa just yet.
The manual you wrote, the exact words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and
chapters that you wrote, belong to you. It is illegal for anyone to reproduce or use any
of that text, in part or in whole, for profit without your permission.
However, you must be able to prove that your exact words have been stolen
before you can get an award for copyright infringement. So, you know that guy with his hit
TV series? Well, unless he’s reading from your manual word-for-word, or attempting to
sell your manual as a supplemental text that he’s written, then he’s probably
doing nothing illegal. He’s just using the idea of breeding guppies.
You do “own” the copyright to your text, all its words and
clever phrases. And you don’t even have to file with the Library of Congress in order
to have the copyright on your text. The copyright is conferred upon you the minute you
write your New York Times Bestseller.
All you have to do is be able to prove, beyond any doubt, the date that
you wrote the material. For your protection, then, it is wise to print and date your
material, and establish with a third party through a written communication that you have
just finished your text. At that time, you can legally affix the copyright symbol (the
letter c inside a circle) to your work.
Now here’s where a formal copyright comes in
By filing with the Library of Congress (and paying them their required
application fee), you can establish definitively a date of copyright that will stand up in
any court of law. Any judge or jury will defer to your date over someone else who can
merely claim by word of mouth that his text came before yours. It’s a good idea to
formally copyright any text that you are planning to market. So, if you’re convinced
that the world population-at-large is in desperate need of “Breeding Guppies, What
Every Ichthyologist Needs to Know” and you plan to sell it on Ebay for $19.95, you
should apply for a formal copyright.
Just having the copyright, however, doesn’t mean that other people
can’t quote your work. They may do so, as long as you are given full credit for
having written it prior to their use. This is called a “reference” or a
“citation” and generally, whatever passage is being quoted will appear offset in
quotation marks (so that the reader can visualize which words belong to someone other than
the author of the text in which the quote appears).
Of course, at present the contingent of Copyright Police is not up to
tracking down every single instance of copyright infringement, and chances are that not
everyone cites original authors as scrupulously as they should, so beware of whom you
casually let look at or read your text (or to whom you give a copy).
Copyrights are not forever
Typically, a copyright lasts for 50 years past the natural life of the
original author. Authors’ heirs may sometimes re-apply for copyrights, but generally
written texts that are this old are considered “public domain” and may be
reproduced without paying the author’s family a royalty fee.
In the publishing world, you will find that many publications require that
you relinquish your copyrights to the work in return for having your work published. This
is a fairly standard procedure—unless your name happens to be Stephen King or
Danielle Steele. Once you’ve relinquished your copyright to a given work, you can not
sell or submit that text again unless you get express approval from the publisher that now
owns the copyright.
There are sites on the World Wide Web where you can post your work for
others to read or use as they see fit, so-called “free sites.” In cases such as
this, there should be a disclaimer that anyone who uses or reproduces your work must give
you full credit. Whether this happens all the time is certainly a matter for some
speculation, but your safeguard is that you own the copyright and if you find that someone
is profiting from your work and that you have not been compensated, you can file a
copyright infringement suit against them.
U.S. Copyright Office website
As of the date of this article, the current copyright fee is $30. All the
instructions and necessary forms can be found on U.S. Copyright Office’s web site:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/. I have copyrighted several texts and advise that you mail
your application with a “Return Receipt Requested” from the U.S. Post Office.
This is your proof that the Copyright Office has received your copyright application.
Author Information
Jan Kovarik
http://www.janktheproofer.com |
I'm Ivan Walsh, the person behind this site. I help people improve how they write, publish and extend their business assets.