Idea Transcript
When You Copyright Books Or Stories
There are several things writers need to know about copyright when it comes to writing books. I'll briefly run down the list so you can understand the basics, but you'll have to do the in-depth research yourself. *Please read the disclaimer at the very bottom of the post before you read on.
1. Copyright limitations vary from country to country Don't kid yourself into thinking that if you copyright your book in the United States, that it's protected elsewhere. Some countries honor United States copyright, some don't. Every country has a copyright variation with different restrictions. For more info, read https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory
2. Copyright typically lasts 70 years before it becomes public domain That's about when most authors people outlive their mortality. (morbid, I know) Some folks set up an estate for this, to handle the re-registration process, or leave it to loved ones to continue the copyright. If not, the work ends up going to public domain. A good example is J.R.R. Tolkien's estate. Had the copyright not continued, his works would've gone to public domain, free for all to read. So today, you have to pay to read his books, where the book rights are controlled.
3. What can be copyrighted According to the copyright.gov website, basically the following: Literary Visual Arts
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Sound Recordings Performing Arts Motion Pictures And click on this link for further details: http://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-limitation.html
4. Copyrighted works created after January 1, 1978 are protected for 70 years after the death of the creator For more information in detail, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
5. Copyright infringement The reason to get your work officially registered with the copyright office, is in the case of litigation, where somebody plagiarizes your work, then you can provide authenticated proof of registration before a court of law. So you can sue for damages. Or, they lie and claim that you stole the story from them. They can countersue you; it's rare, but it can happen. Infringement begins when it it discovered. One must file within the 3 years after infringement, lest you risk getting awarded for damages. But this rule varies from state to state. If you win, most state courts award statutory damages in “not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just.” You can publish without actual official registration of your copyright, but without registration, cases like those are mighty difficult to prove. For more info on copyright limitations, you may want to http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/copyright_law/copyright_statute_limitations.htm
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6. Copyright registration fee costs $35 There's different fees for the type of copyright you need, but the minimum starts at $35.00. http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html And that's the basics. Unless you're ready to upload to a self-publishing platform, this step may be overkill for now.
Posting Copyright On Wattpad
The Wattpad community seems loyal and quite insular. They seem like they got each other's backs. Case in point, the plagiarism of Ancient Guardians book series (go here to read about the kerfuffle) where some anonymous person uploaded the entire free ebook to their Wattpad profile and passed it off as their own, only to be outted by a loyal Wattpad reader, who in turn notified the actual author.
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I've got a few Wattpad stories to read in my account. I've noticed that some do and don't bother putting up a copyright disclaimer. My guess is that, because once you post a story, Wattpad puts the little ( C ) symbol on the right-hand side for you. But still, some folks put the disclaimer up regardless. I suppose I'm one of them. Anyway, here's an example:
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Here's the other thing about Wattpad. You can create a story in it, but you cannot copy & paste text. The platform does not allow for it. I suppose that's to deter infringement from trafficking out, which is awesome. But like the above case of plagiarism, it does not prevent it from coming in. So if you reeeeeeeally like that story of yours, write it in your computer's text editor software and make a backup copy before uploading to Wattpad, preferably to a cloud drive or an external hard drive. Because shit happens all the time, and computer get virus' and malware, and inevitably crash to irreparable oblivion. Wattpad doesn't really have much information on copyright, which I found strange. I had to search the site with a fine toothed comb, and all I came up with was titled:
How to create a copyright for your story :) It's a Wattpad read, submitted by a Wattpad user named Ariel. It's written in 4 parts. (which are 4 pages to the non-Wattpad person) That direct link will only show up for registered users, so sign up if you plan on using Wattpad. Or sign in if already a member. Now, the easiest way to find a copyright disclaimer is to Google the following 3 words: copyright sample disclaimer
Or look it up in whatever search engine you use. I personally prefer DuckDuckGo, but that's just me. Now there are several variations on these disclaimers, simply because they are all tailored to the subject matter.
So a fiction book with have a section talking about 'similarities to any real persons is purely coincidental' whereas a self-help book will have a section like 'neither author nor any other person be held liable for any damages that may result from following counsel of this book'. One must seek the best fit for that books' genre and/or subject matter.
Things that should be inserted within the disclaimer (as told by Ariel): 1. valid email address 2. company name if you have one, or your name with the trademark symbol 3. valid website address of author and/or publisher 4. the actual copyright and/or trademark symbols; © and ™, and if trademark is registered, then ® And that's pretty much what I know thus far. I already made my own custom template for my brand of stories. Happy Googling everybody!
*The text posted above was strictly for entertainment purposes only, not to be purported to qualify or substitute any real legal advice. Please seek legal counsel regarding any serious questions about copyright and intellectual properties, as the author and writer of this blog/website has no actual legal background or any such legal credentials. The author and writer of this article and bog/website does not take any responsibility in the actions or decisions regarding any one person's acquisition and posting of a copyright disclaimer; you agree by reading this article that you the reader, claim sole responsibility when you choose to put any disclaimers in your authored works. By reading the article posted above, you agree not to indemnify or hold the author of this article responsible in any way, legal or otherwise, and you agree to assume all responsibility regarding the posting of any copyright disclaimers to any such works that you create.
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