search
top
2 Jul 2012 by in Zena Shapter | 6 comments

Copyright for Writers

What do you know about copyright? Check out these five copyright basics to ensure you know what you should… as a writer!

1. What is Copyright?

The moment you write any original literary work, you become the sole owner of the copyright in that work (unless you are a freelancer, employee or joint author). As copyright owner, you have the exclusive right to reproduce your work, make it public for the first time, communicate it to the public, recite or perform it in public, or make any adaptation of it (including dramatised or picturised versions and translations). Your copyright will last forever if the work in question is never published, but once published it will last for the entirety of your life, plus 70 years (prior to 1 January 2005, this was 50 years).

One of the main issues in copyright cases is proving the date when a work was created/published. So make sure you keep evidence of this–backup your electronic files and consider mailing work to yourself occasionally (but don’t open it when it arrives!).

2. What is Not Copyright?

‘Literary works’ do NOT include ideas, concepts or themes, names or titles, headlines, slogans or invented words. Some of these may be covered by other areas of law (such as trade mark law), but not copyright.

If you have a website or blog that focuses on a remarkably unique aspect of the publishing industry, you will own the copyright for each component that comprises the website or blog, but you cannot protect the remarkably unique concept that first inspired you.

Similarly, if you choose to describe your unpublished novel on your website or blog, the premise behind that novel is not protected. Anyone could copy the idea, the same way you could copy anyone else’s published ideas. Of course doing a better job with that idea is another question entirely.

3. What Do You Have to Do?

You do not have to apply for copyright in Australia or the UK, it simply exists from the moment you create and record your literary work. In other countries, writers have to apply for copyright through a system of registration (forms and fees, ugh!), but in Australia and the UK it is free and automatic. You don’t even need to put a copyright notice on anything (ie. © Zena Shapter 2012), although this can sometimes be advisable as it can remind people that a work is protected and by whom.

Be vigilant and act promptly should you discover anyone infringing your copyright (hesitation or delay can diminish your rights and acting promptly promotes an aggressive reputation, which in itself can help protect your copyright).

4. What Do They Have to Do?

If someone wants to accuse you of copyright infringement, they must prove  you used (or authorised the use of) a substantial part of their literary work without permission. Deciding what is a ‘substantial part’ is a matter of fact and degree. It can be a large part, or a small part that’s an important, essential or distinctive part of the whole.

You can write a story based on the premise of another writer’s story, but you mustn’t copy any of the ways in which that author expressed their premise (you also shouldn’t really copy the way another author markets their stories, as this could breach Consumer Laws).
If you’re ever accused of copyright infringement, your early drafts, source materials and research could be vital evidence. Keep everything you can! If you’ve never even heard of the author in question, they could be making a ‘groundless threat’ and the court can force them to pay both compensation and your legal costs. They also risk perjury charges!

5. Moral Rights

If you create a literary work, you have the ‘moral right’ to be attributed (wherever reasonably possible) as the creator of that work. This right will be infringed should you not be (correctly) attributed as creator, or if your work is treated in a manner that is detrimental to your reputation. This right exists separately to your copyright, although it also arises automatically and lasts for the same period of time as copyright.

Most authors are particularly concerned about their moral rights as they don’t want others tampering with their work, but in some countries (eg. the UK and New Zealand) you have to assert your moral rights with wording such as “The author asserts his/her moral rights” in order to be protected.
Share

Zena Shapter is a British-Australian fiction writer and published author. She has won multiple awards for her short stories; leads the widely attended Northern Beaches Writers' Group; and blogs about contemporary book culture (at http://www.zenashapter.com/blog/). She also has a BA (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Birmingham, England; is the author of a rather clever legal volume published by CCH Australia (on intellectual property, ha ha!); has had her writing studied at university; and has a brilliant debut novel just waiting to be published. Read more about Zena on her website (at zenashapter.com), or find her on your preferred form of social media.

6 Responses to “Copyright for Writers”

  1. Laura Meyer says:
    Jul 2, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    Great post, Zena – thank you. I find it confusing at times to make sense of the copywrite kerfuffle and this has helped clear a few things up for me!

  2. Laura Meyer says:
    Jul 2, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    Oh goodness me, iPhone!

    *copyright!

  3. Zena Shapter says:
    Jul 3, 2012 at 6:51 am

    Yay! I’m glad it helped :)

    Naughty iPhone spelling!

  4. Jacqui Murray says:
    Jul 12, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Can you copyright the name of your blog? For example, my blog name is Ask a Tech Teacher. I actually publish under that name. Should I copyright it, or register it, or Fictitious Business Name it? So confusing.

    • Zena Shapter says:
      Jul 13, 2012 at 12:33 am

      Excellent question, Jacqui!

      The names of products and services are usually protected under the law of trade marks, though trade marks generally aren’t descriptive (ie. does your blog involve asking and answering tech issues of an expert?).

      You say you publish under the name “Tech Teacher”, so is that your official pseudonym? If so, there may be some rights there should anyone else copy you, but those right might be more under trade practice law. About which I know not much!

      If your blog is a business through which you earn money, you could register it as a business name… though I’m not sure what rights that would give you in terms of protecting the actual name of the blog. I think other business owners could just tweak the name slightly and register that.

      There are so many exceptions and idiosyncrasies… it would be better to ask a practising lawyer! If you contact a nice one, they may just tell you over the phone :)

top