It's your money. Maia's point is that registering doesn't in itself protect you, and it's a waste of money unless you are already in a position to litigate against a plagiarist. Either way, your protection is the paper trail of drafts that document your authorship.
Then what, exactly, does registering do, if it does not protect? (Yes, it is my money. And I'm being made to feel I've been suckered, and that copyright registration is worthless.)
Registration, as Maia stated, ir required before you can litigate for copyright infringement. Also, as Maia pointed out as well, the publisher will handle thr registration when your book is accepted for publication. Registration by itself doesn't guarantee you cannot be sued for infringement. If two people register the same piece of writing (not likely) your paper trail of prior drafts will serve as evidenace that you developed the piece. Most infringement is not the wholesale theft of a complete novel or short story. Usually it is one or more passages stolen from within a published piece.
I was actually thinking the other way around... suing someone else for infringing. The best way (I think) not to be sued for infringement is not to infringe. Don't steal someone else's writing. But assuming, for the moment, that my writing is my writing, and I haven't infringed, and suddenly, my words appear on pages 123-124 of Joe Unscrupulous's new novel, "The Charlie-Rip Off," can't I say, "Hey, I have a registered copyright of those words... right here, I registered it back in 2002?" Doesn't Joe need to prove then, that he had written those words before 2002? Or will they say, "Solly, Cholly, that registered copyright means nothing unless you can prove in other ways that you wrote those words." Charlie Edit: I'm also a bit concerned about the "the publisher will handle it" answer, based on the experience of someone I know: Someone I know writes children's books. She sent her book to a publisher. The publisher did not accept it. Some time later, she saw the same book that she wrote, published under someone else's name. Apparently, since she did not share it with anyone else, the publisher stole the book. I don't see how her notes will help her. Anyone can forge fake notes. Nobody can fake a registered copyright. If she had registered her copyright for her book (as far as I can tell) it could not have been stolen.
Your standing is no worse if you register after you see your words in his book. You need to register before you can file litigation. But where did he steal your words from? If your book is already published, the publisher registered your book. If it's before publication, you have a record of who you sent copies of your manuscript to, and you also have the early drafts of your writing that show its development. If necessary, you register your latest unpublished draft at the time you discover the infringement. Registering before then is throwing your money away.
May be we're in the same writing group, and we all handed copies around the table... may be I faked those notes (how does the court know I did not, I could write a "first draft" of the Da Vinci Code if I tried hard enough, and put "1976" at the top of the page, even use a really old typewriter)... and may be (see edited in comment) he's "tight" with the publisher who rejected my book (and the publisher is himself, the thief.) The notes thing sounds a little like the "poor man's copyright," that everyone says is useless. Charlie
Paying for added sense of security is quite reasonable and registering does seem to add another layer of paper protection for yourself. I will probably register my completed work as well before I send to anyone, either agent or publisher.
Thank you. The woman I know had her book stolen... by a publisher! Not just an excerpt either, the entire book. Everything I've read says, "Poor man's copyright is useless, the only way to protect your work is actually registering it." (I realize that notes and early drafts are not the "poor man's copyright," which involves mailing yourself a copy in a sealed envelope, but if that can be faked, so can early drafts and notes, so the principle on why it might not work is similar.) My concern, and one reason I registered my copyright, was, I didn't want to show anyone my work, as in, in a writing group. I wanted to get it registered before I let a stranger in a writing group read it, and think they could call it their own. I'm not saying, don't save your notes... but a court could reasonably believe that the notes might be faked (and, in reality, the notes might be faked.) If you registered your copyright, you have irrefutable proof that, at least, at the time of registration, you had the document written as it was at that point. Someone would then have to prove that they had written it earlier than the copyright registration date, to prove it's theirs and not yours. In fact (edited in) now that I think about it--assuming you make a new draft, registering your first draft (heck, register your notes as part of the whole document!) is irrefutable proof that that is yours, and not a fake notes & first draft! I'm still baffled as to how, if my work (and I am talking about my work, not something I stole from someone else) is registered in the copyright office, someone else can say they wrote it and it can hold up because I lost earlier notes. Unless they can prove that they wrote it prior to my date of copyright registration, they couldn't possibly have any grounds to claim it's theirs, because obviously, at the time of my copyright registration, I had my manuscript written... and besides, I know I wrote the thing, either in my hypothetical or in the reality of my actual manuscript, my integrity isn't in question, it's the person who stole my book from me, and the evidence that he did so and that I am telling the truth is that I have a copyright registration predating anything he could possibly have. (Assuming, too, he doesn't have a time machine so that he could steal my manuscript, go back to the time before I registered it, register it himself, and make some pre-draft notes.) Charlie PS. The cost I incurred for registering was $35, I registered online. I've tipped waitresses more than that... though, I admit, it was only when eating with the whole family. For my peace of mind, I won't be concerned with someone saying I threw it away. Not knowing what happened to the lady at my church who writes children's books.
there is no reason why you can;t use a song title for a book, nor any reason why you canlt reference a song either, after all its quite natural for a character to have a favourite song and as long as its just the title you are using there is no problem, the issue will come if you use the lyrics directly however as this then gets into copywrite territory
When I say phrases, I mean popular cliches or famous lines like (or not even so very famous lines) Examples: "There is no Spoon" - the matrix. "Get thee to a nunnery!" - shakespeare "Hastalavista, Baby!" - Arnold Schwarzenegger What if you use it, but change it around? Trick'O'Treating is like that present from Aunt Fey. You'll always know what you'll get. (I know, sounds lame but only thing I could think of right now) Or what if you use it as paraody? Is this consider plagerism? Or is it something like lyrics where you would have to ask permission from the artist first before you can use it?
You can quote Shakespeare all you like, its in the public domain. The other two I'm pretty sure can be considered to have entered popular culture in away that means you can use them, but people will always read them in their original contexts so you need to be aware of that.
That is fair reference. To make a weak example: John told Sue to get a Coca-Cola. Unless you go into great detail about the inner workings and production of Coca-Cola and claim it's yours, you are safe as far as plagerism goes.
Coca-Cola is a trademark. Plagiarism doesn't apply. Trademark infringement can take place a number of ways, but that isn't really relevant to this discussion. Some short phrases from copyrighted works are so frequently repeated that they have become part of common speech, so copyright on those phrases is essentially unenforceable. Whether the unattributed use of those phrases is technically plagiarism is debatable, but it's a moot point.
as usual, cog got here while i was still sound asleep on the other side of the planet and said pretty much what i would, had i beaten him to the punch, instead of v/v...
Then there are cases like "Who ya gonna call?" Everyone knows where that is from, but sometimes that is EXACTLY what the character would say, and there are only so many ways to ask that question.
I would avoid that line in a serious moment of a story because people will feel a giggle brewing when they read it. Association is a really powerful tool in storytelling and misplaced associations will undermine it with equal force. I'd work around it...make the character say it some other way. "Who ya calling?" "Who will you call?" something... anything but the exact quote.
That's really off topic, though. The issue is whether you can include such a line without fear of legal complications, not whether it's a good choice in context.
That's why I mentioned, "What if you use it, but change it around?" The way I use it is usually for paraody.
I've seen people make references like that on TV. In one show, a character said, during a very serious seen, "who ya gonna call?" then rolled his eyes and said, "No one's ever gonna be able to say that again, are they?"
A lot of these phrases are actually pop culture references and i don't think anyone will seriously consider legal action, after all its not plagarism as such as you are using it out of contxt and simply making reference to a popular saying/catchphrase, which is something that happens in everyday life, (i qoute shakespeare and alic in wonderland all the time) it would be plagarism however if your story happened to feature within a computer generated world in which your mc is some kind of messiah who then utters "there is no spoon,"
Hi everyone, I'm writing a book about my experiences with an illness, I'm hoping it may be of interest to others with the same illness, I'd really like to include a couple of stories which have been published in the press, some scientific information and the statement from the World Health Organization about the disease. I would like to also include my medical test result figures and doctors recommendations. Can I do this or does the doctor own copyright? Could anyone give me advice on how to refer to this information without infringing copyright? Can I write an overall couple of lines summarising the newpaper reports and reference them or would that be infringing? Can I say that certain Scientific studies have found so and so and reference them fully? Or do I need to exact copy thier text and get their permission? It would be very useful to be able to include the WHO statement on the illness - how can I include their statement, do I have to use their exact words or conclude what they say and reference? I'm finding this all so very difficult to get my head around - any advice would be very gratefully received!
You don't need an author's permission to reference their work. Same for the WHO statement and any newspaper reports, but you do need to know how to reference correctly. As for your own test results, copyright wouldn't apply to them, but I'm not sure about the law when it comes to publishing private medical documents. I guess if you're the patient they refer to it would be fine, but obviously you need to double check. Its not really a question about literary law, its medical law.
