© 2010 Tonya M. Evans. All rights reserved. Limited license to link, forward and re-post; provided this post is transmitted in its entirety with proper attribution and link to www.legalwritepublications.com.
NOTE: This post does not constitute legal advice and is meant for educational purposes only.
If you have created an original literary or artistic work in some tangible form – in writing or on film or canvas – or for our purposes during this class, in an electronic format, for example – then nothing more is required as copyright is created automatically. So in order for a copyright to exist, you must have created a literary or artistic work that is original and tangibly expressed in a form that is actually capable of being copied.
In general, the Copyright Act gives a copyright owner the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
1. Copy the work
2. Prepare derivative works based on the original (screenplay based on a novel or vice versa)
3. Distribute copies of the work to the public
4. Publicly display
5. Publicly perform
Collectively, these rights are often referred to as an author’s exclusive bundle of rights. And all of these rights exist, for the most part, when your work is uploaded to the Internet. I say “for the most part” because there are some special rules that apply to public performances of music. But that is outside the scope of this class. So for our purposes, all of the rights in the bundle apply regardless of whether the work appears in print form or in electronic form via the Internet.
The issue, however, becomes protecting your work from infringement and also not infringing the work of others, intentionally or even “innocently.” It doesn’t matter whether a copyrighted work bares a copyright notice [C in a circle or the word copyright plus the date and name of the owner] because notice is not required, although it is recommended.
More information:
- Book: Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark and Contracts in Plain Language
- Book: Copyright Companion for Writers
- Book: Contracts Companion for Writers
- Audio: Legal Matters that Matter to Writers
- Audio: Copyright for Writers on the Book
Tags: copyright, intellectual property
