Copyright

jonno

I posted this in the sticky but realise nobody probably saw it in there


quote:

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Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CD's, or LP's. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phonorecords"), or both.

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I'm not sure I understand it exactly.

Does it mean that once you finish a piece it is automatically copyrighted. I'm just confused as to how you actually prove you are the creator in the event it is poached or whatever. And how does it work with screenplays? When exactly is a screenplay
quote:

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fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time

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I think thats whats causing the confusion.

Thanx

jonno

Anybody??? . . . .

Specky

Any "work of art" you produce....that includes everything you write whether it's finished, published or just scratched in dust at the back of your garden shed belongs to you and is copyrighted to you.

However, if someone else were to use it in a way that you didn't want then you'd have to prove that it was your original work and that you thought of it first.

It's not like a patent or a trademark which have big structured institutions through which applications must pass (along with a heap of money). You simply need to lodge an original copy of your work in a place where it cannot be tampered with and with some proof of the date it was lodged.

If you want you can do this with your solicitor....or you can do it the old fashioned way. Send it to yourself in a well sealed envelope by registered post or courier or whatever you like that results in a third party proof of delivery on a specific date. Don't open it when it arrives (of course), take it and put it somewhere safe...solicitor, bank, whatever. You can keep it yourself but then if your house burnt down or your nosey little brother went snooping you'd lose the proof of ownership.

Same applies to music/drawings/paintings....and it also applies to software, electronic designs etc, however, with the latter it's easy to copy what someone else has done without enfringing the copyright (by simply re-wording or slightly redesigning) so for technology it's better to go down the patent route...even though it costs more.

jonno

Thanks for that Specky. Just what I wanted