A Writers Guide to Copyright Law

Any writer or other artists engaged in an artistic enterprise should have a basic understanding of intellectual property laws. While there are other types of intellectual property such as patents and trademarks, writers and artists only need to be concerned with the former.

What is often misunderstood is how to obtain a copyright. Most people think this is a complicated process involving filing paperwork with the government. Getting a copyright is a rather simple thing, actually. As soon as the author or artist creates his work, he owns the copyright. Additional protection for artistic works can be gained by filing paperwork with the Library of Congress in the United States. It certainly makes things easier to prove who came up with the idea first should a legal dispute ever arise.

The second thing you will need to understand is how long copyrights last. In the case of an individual person you will hold the copyright until you die and fifty years after the date of your death. Once this period expires, the work then enters the public domain and may be used freely by anyone without permission. Corporations hold the copyrights on their characters for 75 years. Companies that have been around a long time such as Disney will re-release videos so they can maintain control over the intellectual property they own. Recent changes in copyright law may have changed this rule, however.

When you create the piece, you own all rights to the work. If you seek to sell it you can sell all your rights, first time publication rights, or first time and reprint rights. Make sure you understand which rights you are given up before you make sale. First time rights are like virginity, they can only be given once - hence the name. Even though a publisher may buy the rights to an article, they will often assign them back to the author. Just check to make sure before selling any piece. (Especially if you are a content producer here, since many people submit pieces as exclusive.)

Copyright law was designed to protect authors against plagiarism and some people assert that the laws exist in the first place because of the American Author, Edgar Allen Poe. Whether or not that is true, writers need to understand how the laws apply and what to do should someone plagiarize their work. If you have been accused of plagiarism or suspect someone of ripping off your work, contact a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property cases.

Sources:

Business Law, Houghting Mifflin 2007.

Writer's Market. Writer's Digest Books, 2001