Copyright Information: How Can You Be Sure That Your Work Is Protected By Copyright?

Don't Give Copyright Away!

All writers, designers, and creators of original work worry about having their work illegally copied by others. At the time of creating your work, you may consider it to be a bit of fun with very little value, and not worry about the copyright at all.

You may even give away or sell the copyright for a paltry sum, and later regret it. Sigel and Shuster, the creators of Superman sold the complete rights for $130, in the late 1930's.

Today, however, it is common for non-fiction book and novel writers to register their work with a copyright office in order to have the full protection of the law in the event of plagiarism or un-authorised publication.

Automatic Copyright Protection

International copyright law states that when you create your own written work it is automatically protected by copyright. This applies to whatever form of writing you use, including electronic publishing.

You can further protect your work by including a copyright notice in the correct format: Copyright © (the first date of creation) (your name as the owner). The symbol c in a circle is not strictly required, but it is the accepted convention.

Therefore, this page can be protected with:

But it has better international protection with:

Copyright Links

You can read more about this subject at the Copyright Office of the United States Library of Congress, or in a user-friendly format at What Is Copyright? There are also other links to Websites with interesting information on this subject:

US Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/
Australian Copyright Council: http://www.copyright.org.au/
A UK Copyright Service Company: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/
Canadian Copyright: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/cp_main-e.html
Stanford University on Copyright: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Wikipedia on Copyright: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
10 copyright myths: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
What is Copyright? http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
Copyright my Stuff: http://www.copyrightmystuff.com/
UK Copyright: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/
Register your copyright: http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html

> Home Page