I was hoping someone could answer my question. It may seem silly,but I am new to both writing and forums. In the rules it says:

You must own the copyright to all work claimed your own.

What does this mean? How do you copyright your work if it hasn't been published? Also, how do you prove that you own the copyright to your work?

Could someone please clarify this for me?
Thanks,
Amanda

Good Question.

You may post up your own work short stories and poetry and Lyrics. But we advise with Novels you only post up sections unless fan fiction (Fan Fiction is a story you write regarding another topic that has already been created eg Star Wars Harry Potter Warhammer 40,000) Now your own work its best you have some copyright over your novels because if someone else see's it they may attempt to pinch it. However so far in the time this forum has been active that has not happened. But then most of the members are honest here.

As for copyrighting your work you'll have to look into that yourself its different for everyone.

if you want to post up your writing Novel stuff I suggest a few chapters. Same with screen writing screen plays.

In hope that helps a little. Any other questions please feel free to Email me or send me a PM.








~Raven.

as soon as you write it, your work is automatically copyrighted in the us and many other countries [signatories to the berne convention, i believe]:

When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

Is my copyright good in other countries?
The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, we honor each other's citizens' copyrights. However, the United States does not have such copyright relationships with every country. For a listing of countries and the nature of their copyright relations with the United States, see Circular 38a, International Copyright Relations of the United States.

it's always best to go to the source for accurate info:

U.S. Copyright Office - Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/)

British Copyright Council (http://www.britishcopyright.org/page.asp?site=main)

wouldn't this be good info to keep as a sticky, raven?

love and hugs, maia

Indeed it would. We could throw it in with the noobie packets.

As mammamaia points out, when you create a work (in the USA at least), you are automatically thge copyright owner. However, *proving* ownership is another matter. Registering your work is the best guarantee if you need to prove ownership. This can occur when you discover your work published under someone else's name, but it can also occur if someone else steals your work and tries to force you to yield your rights.

It does happen.

For that link, and another I saw about the proper formatting (http://www.passionatepen.com/formatarticle.htm), we can throw it in here (http://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=4675)...assuming you can re-open threads...seeing as how that was already made for the links Torana and I were giving to the site. Not to mention, there already is a link to that reference in the Noobie Packet.

Thank you, adamant, I have added those links to the Ligers and Unicorns and Links! Oh my! (http://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=4675) post.

as soon as you write it, your work is automatically copyrighted in the us and many other countries [signatories to the berne convention, i believe]:





it's always best to go to the source for accurate info:

U.S. Copyright Office - Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/)

British Copyright Council (http://www.britishcopyright.org/page.asp?site=main)

wouldn't this be good info to keep as a sticky, raven?

love and hugs, maia

I have decided your suggestion is a good idea so there for I have made a sticky of copyright.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. It has been very helpful. Have a wonderful day, all of you!

Thanks,
Amanda

Thats what we're here for :);)

And you too.

glad it was helpful... as a bit of an addendum to cog's info on registering, there are two places to do that in the us:

U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) [library of congress]
and
Writers Guild of America, West (www.wga.org) ; WGAE (www.wgae.org) [east and west coast branches of writers guild of america]

the first is government, the second is the writers union...

anyone anywhere can register their existing copyright with the loc [for a fee, of course], but it won't necessarily hold up in any but an american court, if you have to sue or are sued over ownership... most pros don't bother registering their work there, as their publishers will do that... and it's a rare occurrence for anyone to steal an entire book ms and claim it as their own...

and it's too costly to do it for anything other than books or book-sized collections of short stories or poetry... screenplays are another thing and some register them with loc instead of or in addition to wgaw...

anyone anywhere can register and archive their work with wga... stage plays, song lyrics, poetry and books are usually registered with the NY branch and tv/film scripts with the LA one, as those are the respective hubs of the publishing/entertainment universes... it's a bit cheaper and much quicker/easier than loc but doesn't last as long...

check out the sites for details...

m

Thanks, mamma. I've added these links to our Writing Resources Links (http://www.writingforums.org/showpost.php?p=64882&postcount=1) thread.

hey, what happened to your picture?... i liked the real deal much better than this orange crusher thingy... hugs, m