Let’s talk about copyright. It’s very important to authors, since it’s how they make their money. But I’ve seen and heard a lot of people misunderstand copyright. (Disclaimer: My knowledge of copyright comes from US law. Foreign authors may wish to seek information from other sources.)
First of all, copyright is kind of new. It only came into development after the printing press. And, as the name implies, it is all about who has the right to copy the material. Anything that isn’t already in a “fixed tangible form” (like ideas or concepts) are not subject to copyright protection. Because, you know, you can’t copy, publish or distribute them.
When does copyright protection begin? There have been a lot of variations in US law in the last century, but what you need to know is that anything written since the late 70s up until right now is automatically subject to copyright protection the moment it is fixed in said “fixed tangible form.” That is, the moment you finish writing it down on a piece of paper, or hit save on your computer. Done. It’s yours now.
Or, as the US Copyright Office succinctly puts it:
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. [External Link]
Hooray for the government making things easy for once, right?!
How long does copyright last? How can I lose my rights? Here’s another thing I hear sometimes that confuses me. In most cases, US copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. So while you may want to give passing thought to who you’re going to leave it to in your will, you don’t really need to worry about “losing” it. You can’t misplace your copyright like car keys. I believe this misconception comes from people confusing it with trademark, another form of intellectual property which you need to actively maintain.
So I should put a big watermark that says “COPYRIGHT © 2014, [MY NAME]” on all documents I send to agents, right? Well, you can. It’s a free country. But, while putting a copyright notice on printed materials used to be essential for copyright protection, it’s now just a formality to make it easier to know who owns the copyright. And if I’ve emailed you asking for your sample, then I already know it’s you.
Someone told me I need to register the copyright with the Copyright Office for full protection! Why are you saying I don’t need to do anything? Again, registration used to be essential for copyright protection. Now, like the notice, it is mostly a formality. The only real exception to this is legal proceedings and cases of infringement. Then you do need to have a registration certificate to file a suit, and you’ll be in a stronger legal position if you’ve done it soon after publication (see below). Since the registration process costs money, I only advise unpublished authors to do it if they have reason to believe they are soon going to court over the copyright. (Which is rare.)
Doesn’t my publisher own my copyright? No. Think of your copyright like a natural resource that you have and they need. You sell them access to it for a period of time. Any contract that wants you to turn over your copyright (excluding work-for-hire situations) is a bad one. The contract with your publisher should say that you, the Author, are the owner of the copyright. The publisher should also be the one doing the registering of copyright mentioned above. The copyright clause should use language like “shall” or “will” register the copyright not “may” or “can.” It is best if they do it within 90 days of publication. Because then you can get statutory damages if you win an infringement case, as opposed to simply actual damages.
I have questions about copyright you haven’t answered. You can ask in the comments! But I’ll also provide some links. The US Copyright Office has an official website here and they offer helpful FAQs and information brochures like the one I quoted from above. The Copyright Clearance Center also has some helpful resources, and they can help you obtain permission to use copyrighted material (like song lyrics or poems) in your books. If you’re more of an academic sort, Professor William Fisher who teaches about copyright at Harvard, has made many of his lectures available on Youtube. They can be found here. If you’re a self-published author who wants to register your own copyright, I have also published a tutorial on doing that at my old blog. And if you’re a blogger, try this guide here.
And if you want to read a book about it (since we like books), I recently bought one called Without Copyright by Robert Spoo. It’s about a time in US law when works by foreign authors were not protected in the States, and publishers didn’t have to pay, for example, Charles Dickens for his work. I think it’s interesting to see how the laws have changed over the years. Because I am a nerd.
