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Copywrighting a book for publication?
StudioZEL
ConnecticutRegistered User regular
ConnecticutRegistered User regular
So I've switched gears this year, less of a focus on my artwork and more on writing my stories. I've finished the rough draft of my first novel and will be proceeding to write the next couple of drafts shortly (in addition to drawing the 10 or so illustrations I have planned for it), but I have a few questions about copywrighting my work that I'd like to ask before I get there.
It's my understanding that I need to send my manuscript to the government for copywrighting purposes before approaching agents and/or publishers with my story. But before I send it down (once I've done a few more drafts), I wanted to know if:
1) The story is the first in a series of novels. Do I need to send a timeline of the major story events for copywright as well?
2) Do I need to/Should I copywright my characters seperately?
3) Since my book includes illustrations, do I need to send character design sheets for copywright?
And if there's anything else I should be including/considering that I have not posted here, I would appreciate any and all suggestions and advice. Thanks again. ^_^
It's my understanding that I need to send my manuscript to the government for copywrighting purposes before approaching agents and/or publishers with my story. But before I send it down (once I've done a few more drafts), I wanted to know if:
1) The story is the first in a series of novels. Do I need to send a timeline of the major story events for copywright as well?
2) Do I need to/Should I copywright my characters seperately?
3) Since my book includes illustrations, do I need to send character design sheets for copywright?
And if there's anything else I should be including/considering that I have not posted here, I would appreciate any and all suggestions and advice. Thanks again. ^_^
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Now, getting published is another deal. Typically, the publisher will handle all notices of copyright. Furthermore, never send manuscripts to publishers. They will ignore it. Find a literary agent and let them handle it for you. They have industry contacts that they deal with.
If you're that worried about someone ripping off your idea, do a poorman's copyright, which is basically sending yourself a copy of your manuscript through the US mail, and never open the envelope.
In the United States, a copyright (not copywrite or copywright) is automatically assigned to a work when it is put in a fixed form (i.e., written down). Therefore, simply by writing your story (and saving it on a hard drive or printing it out), you have copyrighted it.
However, having a registered copyright confers several advantages: you have a firm recognition that your work was written "no later than" the registration date, and a copyright registration is required to litigate the copyright. Registration is relatively inexpensive (maybe $50-100) and details can be found here. However, nobody is permitted to infringe your default copyright whether you register it or not.
You cannot copyright a general plotline for a series of novels. Well, you can, but it only covers the expression of the plotline in its fixed form. That is, if you write a plot outline, nobody can copy your outline itself, but somebody can write novels that conform to it without infringing your copyright. However, if you create new and original characters in your novel, for example, nobody else would be able to use them in their own stories. To do so would be to create a derivative work, and creation of derivative works is an exclusive right of the copyright holder (and his/her licensees). Creating a derivative work is sort of a gray area, and therefore if someone really steals a written idea wholesale and you can prove it, then you may have cause for suing for copyright infringement. However, this is enormously tough to do. For example, both Harry Potter and The Worst Witch share many common story elements. A castle-turned-school in which young students take classes in flying, potions, etc. However, even despite this common setting, Harry Potter is probably not a derivative work in the copyright sense of The Worst Witch.
Any revisions of your existing novel would also be a derivative work, and so therefore you don't need to reregister the copyright every time you make a new edit.
Copyrights do not prohibit someone from disclosing the general idea of your novel or the plot, of course, or even loaning their copy out for reading (but they cannot generally Xerox your manuscript and pass it around). If you want that kind of protection you need them to sign an NDA.
This is somewhat of an urban legend and does not actually afford you much additional protection. It does not necessarily establish a legally-recognized chain of custody. For the $50 it costs to register a copyright, just do it the real way.
You can't copyright abstract concepts, only actual works. So you would only be copyrighting the actual book, not your plans for future books.
http://www.thelostworlds.net/
That sounds very strange. I'd understand if you used the characters names, meaning I can't write a James Bond novel, but if I write a James Bond novel and call the leading man Artemis Duke, that's fine. As Frylock said, it would be incredibly difficult to prove it a derivative work. What if I made the Artemis Duke novel on Mars? He's still James Bond (who I have cunningly renamed!). It's just not a James Bond-style book anymore.
Ninja Edit: I think the Artemis Duke on Mars book could sell millions. I COPYRIGHT IT.
And if they won't, at some point you'll have to accept that people will need to see it. People who work in businesses of confidentiality, like angel investors and the like, would have their reputations very quickly soured if they were to start taking ideas and making them themselves. At the end of the day, when you write a novel, you are the person that has the vision of the world the story takes place in. You know the characters and the story. For someone to then go and copy it wholesale wouldn't work, they don't have the same idea about the story as you do.
A copyright on the manuscript of your book will afford you all the protection you need until publication.
Ah, I think that's where I was getting confused. Thanks. ^_^
Nicholas v. Universal Pictures Group, 45 F.2d 1119 (2d Cir, 1930); Warner Bros. Pictures v. Columbia Broadcasting System, 216 F.2d 945 (9th Cir.1954); Anderson v. Stalone 11 U.S.P.Q.2d 1161 (C.D. Cal. 1989).
When your characters are not archetypes, they are to a degree protectable subject matter. The more unique they are, the more protection they are granted. Any character you create and put in writing is protected by copyright, so long as that character is fully delineated.
Don't take this or anything in this thread as actual legal advice. If you are really concerned, hire a lawyer. The actual filing is a pretty simple process, however.
Enjoying the protections of copyright and being copyrightable are two separate issues. I think you're conflating the two.
Having followed your advice and checked out the citations, I still it appears that none of the cases imply that you can copyright a character. That is not to say that distinct characters don't enjoy copyright protection through the derivative works clause in the statute as I outlined above. For example, in Anderson v. Stallone, the issue was exactly as I laid it out above - Anderson had written an unauthorized treatment for Rocky IV, which was seen as an unauthorized derivative work of Rocky I-III because it reused the characters. However, the characters themselves were not copyrighted; the movies and screnplays were the copyrighted works.