Copyright your writing
© Peder Fugl
The law is on our side when it comes to protecting our creations, so you don’t need to keep your writing safely under lock and key. On the other hand, how confident can we be that we’re not sub-consciously stealing other people’s words?
As writers, do any of us know the rules that govern us when we put pen to paper and fingertip to keyboard?
How can we be sure our words are fresh and new or remarkably similar to some already written? We all have wonderful moments when an story or feature idea comes to mind fully formed and ready to be written down, but there are subliminal pitfalls to the creative process. How can you sure that your stroke of literary genius isn’t something you once read or viewed emerging from our subconscious disguised as an original idea?
Check your ideas really are yours
Here in techno world, we’re lucky to have the internet to help us to check the origin of our creation, and a quick check on Google is likely to let you know if you’ve unwittingly stolen someone else’s stroke of genius.
However, there’s always the fear that the web can also blight us by allowing the global community to siphon off our words for their own use if we publish our work online.
The Internet, with its forums, e-zines and blogs, all are all fertile ground for those who seek to acquire content for their own use. Just think of all those homework plagiarists at work right now lifting the information for their ‘Green Issue’ essay for class tomorrow.
It is no longer just a charge of plagiarism or a matter of ethics to use another’s work whether consciously, or unconsciously. The law also states it contravenes intellectual property rights to snaffle the creative work of another writer, be they living or dead.
Intellectual Property
The term Intellectual Property was first coined in the nineteenth century and more recently has been used as a legal term in the US and is now in common usage in the UK. Intellectual Property or intangible assets are defined as affording exclusive rights to those who created a work of literary, musical or artistic worth.
Now you’ve written your work of fiction you may want to protect your Intellectual Property rights by copyrighting it. Copyright laws exist to protect the work of those who wish to share their creation with the world at large. Personal copyright on content, as opposed to corporate or anonymous content, belongs to the author for a period as defined by the laws of the land, the standard being between fifty and 100 years after the author’s death. After that time the work will pass into the public domain.
Creation equal copyright
Copyright is automatically in place at the point of creation, although there is no actual requirement to register a copyright against your work, if you deem your handiwork to be of great potential value then do obtain copyright or make use of ‘poor man’s copyright’ by posting a version of it to yourself and leaving the package sealed.
And for the longer term, the ownership of the work, plus any derivatives thereof belongs to the creator - unless the copyright is relinquished, transferred or waived.
So, in a nutshell, you write it you own it, unless someone already wrote it before you or you sell it to a bloke down the pub.
Feature supplied by short story writer and novelist Suzanna Stanbury.
DISCLAIMER
Neither the author nor EssentialWriters.com are responsible for any loss of business or profits arising from action followed due to this advice. This article is intended for general guidance only and professional assistance should be sought based on your particular circumstances.
