Copyright?

PaulieG

Hi, I'm ready to start sending a sitcom script I've written out to as many people/agencies/Graham Linehan's as I can find who might be interested in reading such a thing, but before I do I'd really like to protect it legally first. Can anyone please tell me how I do this? Thank you in advance.:o

EileenG

You don't have to do anything to protect it. You own the copyright from the moment you write it. You can put "copyright PaulieG" on it if you like, but legally, it's not necessary.

Keep all your early drafts, in the event of a court case, they prove that you wrote it.

Bear in mind, copyright covers the words you've written, not the idea. There is no copyright on ideas.

Have you checked out exactly what way potential buyers want your script to be laid out?

PaulieG

EileenG wrote: »

Keep all your early drafts, in the event of a court case, they prove that you wrote it.

Thanks for your reply Eileen. I've heard this answer before but I would be slightly worried by it. In the event of a court case, what's to stop anyone typing up bits of the script saying "Look, here are my early drafts. See, it's mine!"

cookie1977

You could and post it to yourself via registered mail then store the envelope unopened as proof of when you wrote it too

EileenG

PaulieG wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Eileen. I've heard this answer before but I would be slightly worried by it. In the event of a court case, what's to stop anyone typing up bits of the script saying "Look, here are my early drafts. See, it's mine!"

Because yours will show the evolution of the idea, and the development of characters and stuff like that.

In any case, why would they steal your stuff? It's cheaper to just pay you than to have to fake a lot of notes for a court case. It's not like you are going to make millions on it.

I keep hearing about the posting to yourself idea, but does anyone know of a case where this actually worked?

Seriously, copyright infringement is not the thing to worry about. A bigger danger is that if you have a good idea but your writing is not up to par, that they would take the idea and get their own people to rewrite it to their standard.

St._Andalou

I second Cookie1977's suggestion. I think it's called Poor Man's Copyright, but I have no idea how effective it would be in a plagiarism case.

At any rate, registered post costs less than five euro, so if you're worried about copyright it can't hurt.

PaulieG

No, posting it to yourself is nonsense. Just read this on filmmaking.net:

"Unfortunately this is a fallacy, as it's extremely unlikely such an argument will stack up in court. Why? Because it's extremely simple to fake and anyone who works in the legal side of copyright knows this. Faking it is as simple as sending yourself and empty, unsealed envelope, then once it comes back, popping your script inside and sealing it. The post office doesn’t care that the envelope's empty or even that it is unsealed - they will deliver regardless. So you could easily have sent yourself an empty envelope a couple of years ago, rip-off someone’s script, then pop your new script inside the postmarked envelope and voila! You have a sealed, postmarked envelope containing your script. Don’t use this method."

EileenG

Thank you. This might save a lot of postage costs!

cookie1977

along with the rest of your evidence it's still a good back up as it adds to the total. Dont dismiss it out right.

EileenG

I have never heard of a court case where this was used. And if you are writing a lot, it adds up. If you are posting something which is more than a few pages, it becomes very expensive.

cookie1977

emm you could post a usb key of a scanned copy or word doc. You dont need the original handwritten document

EileenG

Really, stealing your material is not a big risk. If you've written something which is good enough to be used, it makes much more sense for the publication to just pay you and use it legitimately, rather then risk court cases and notoriety by stealing it.

What does happen is that you have an idea at the same time as someone else, and their material is used rather than yours, and you become convinced they stole it.

Bear in mind that most single works won't make that much money. It's really not worth while stealing something when you can have it by paying peanuts.

FewFew

EileenG wrote: »

Because yours will show the evolution of the idea, and the development of characters and stuff like that.

In any case, why would they steal your stuff? It's cheaper to just pay you than to have to fake a lot of notes for a court case. It's not like you are going to make millions on it.

Seriously, copyright infringement is not the thing to worry about. A bigger danger is that if you have a good idea but your writing is not up to par, that they would take the idea and get their own people to rewrite it to their standard.

This happened a friend of mine. He complained about it to the press ombudsman (it was an article in a newspaper) but really he didn't have a leg to stand on. They obviously thought his writing wasn't up to scratch so got a staff writer to do an article on the same topic.

"Can't copyright an idea" is key here. Technically copyright exists the minute you make a copy of something, by rights even if you make a doodle on a piece of paper you have copyright over it.

St._Andalou wrote: »

I second Cookie1977's suggestion. I think it's called Poor Man's Copyright, but I have no idea how effective it would be in a plagiarism case.

At any rate, registered post costs less than five euro, so if you're worried about copyright it can't hurt.

I always email drafts to myself. Not only is it a back-up of your work, but it's also marked with time and date. Unless Gmail is in on your conspiracy I don't think a court could really dispute it.

But Eileen is right, if it's not up to scratch but the idea is, then they can just yoink it, especially for something like a sitcom where the situation and characters are key.

St._Andalou

Fewcifur wrote: »

I always email drafts to myself. Not only is it a back-up of your work, but it's also marked with time and date. Unless Gmail is in on your conspiracy I don't think a court could really dispute it.

But Eileen is right, if it's not up to scratch but the idea is, then they can just yoink it, especially for something like a sitcom where the situation and characters are key.

E-mailing is a very good idea. But what conspiracy? I didn't claim there was a conspiracy.

FewFew

St._Andalou wrote: »

E-mailing is a very good idea. But what conspiracy? I didn't claim there was a conspiracy.

If one went to court one could use gmail unless the court believed gmail was involved in one's conspiracy.

azzeretti

How does this work for work posted to a forum? Say I posted a story here, do I still have copyright on it or does it now became boards.ie's?

EileenG

You still have the copyright, but posting to an open forum like this could be considered publication, which could affect your chances of selling it. In real life, I don't think it would, but if you are looking for critiques on something you plan to sell, it would be better to join a private forum on Boards like Write Club.