Pay Attention to Copyright: Your Alternatives
by Sharri Whiting
As most professional writers know, when you create a work, it is fully copyrighted automatically, whether you register it and display a copyright symbol or not. Many writers, especially those whose work appears on the Internet, prefer to have the copyright symbol appear on their work as a reminder to those who think cutting and pasting is a free-for-all activity.
Professional writers produce a product, just as others in creative industries -- the painters, architects, composers, sculptors. Not many of them would appreciate having their three-dimensional products taken for use by others without payment or attribution. Yet it happens to writers all the time.
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Registering your copyright, while not essential, does offer some benefits, as does making certain your work appears with a copyright symbol when published on the Internet. According to Section 412 of the copyright law, registration is necessary if an author wishes to be able to sue for full damages if the work is stolen.
To receive full protection for willful infringement, copyright registration must be done within three months of publication, or before the first infringement. Should you discover that your work has been infringed upon, you will be more likely to find an attorney to take your case on a contingency basis if you have registered the copyright.
To check the status of your copyright, go to www.loc.gov. Click on the copyright office. Insert your name or the title of the work. Even if a publisher has offered to copyright the work, the copyright should be in your name unless you have agreed otherwise, such as a work-for-hire situation.
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For work published on the Internet, there is a licensing alternative, an innovation developed by a group of people from major US universities and law schools. Called the Creative Commons license, it is specifically for work published online and does not effect eventual sale of work in print. Go to:
http://creativecommons.org
for a description of the various Creative Commons licenses available to writers, photographers and others.
The Creative Commons license has various levels of protection, from all rights reserved to no rights reserved (public domain); the author or photographer can specify the terms under which s/he makes her/his work available.
©Sharri Whiting 2006 |
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