Do I Need a Copyright
By L J Comp
Creativity is one of the human traits that can apply to any
area of one's life. Creative people have two tendencies. Firstly,
they are capable of envisioning something new and different,
such as a new way of doing something, or a new idea, or a
new way of expressing their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Secondly, they want to share their new insights with the world.
Most people who have the creative gene also have the tendency
to want credit for their creativity. This is where the wonderful
world of copyrights comes into play.
Copyrights can be thought of as intellectual property rights.
They are "deeds" that are issued to authors of original
material in several categories including but not limited to
art, music, literature, and drama. The copyright protection
is available to published and unpublished works alike, but
only applies once the material has been placed on some form
of tangible media. This can be in the form of recordings on
tape or CD, film and digital media, paper or just about anything
that can be seen. Once the material has been recorded by one
of these methods, fundamental rights are inherently issued
to the original author. In other words, no registration is
necessary in order to claim a copyright or to be protected
by Copyright law, but there are definite advantages to placing
registration for the piece. Registration establishes a public
record of the copyright claim, and registration must be made
before a case can appear in a court case. Court enforced judgments
can be affected by the timing of the registration. Filing
a registration just before litigation may lessen the credibility
of the claimant somewhat. The registration process involves
remitting an application, registration fee ($45.00), and two
copies of the work in the same envelope to the Copyright Office.
Another once-commonly used method of proving ownership and
claiming copyright protection is called the "Poor man's
copyright". This entailed placing the material into a
sealed envelope and mailing it to one's self, then storing
the sealed envelope until it was needed to prove ownership.
But just as anything else, the criminal mind devised a way
to forge this form of copyright by mailing an unsealed envelope
to himself then placing whatever contents inside to suit the
purpose. Therefore, a poor man's copyright is not a strong
form of proof of ownership.
In summation, once the creation is placed on a visible medium,
copyright laws apply and the author is entitled to document
this on their work, but registration provides positive proof
of the authorship and is necessary before any litigation can
take place. The courts are full of cases that involve copyright
infringement and many notable cases have been in the news
regarding the music and film industry among others. In answer
to the question, "Do I need a copyright?", it boils
down to one thing: What is it worth to you to protect your
personal creativity and intellectual property?
Find out more information about copyright laws HERE
L J Comp is an Internet author, Christian songwriter, and
webmaster.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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