Copyright Matters II

Before we delve deeper into copyright matters, let us first define and understand what a copyright is. Basically a copyright is a form of protection grounded on a country s Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression.

Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. There are a lot of subtleties and international variations but that's the gist of it. If you create something, and it fits the definition of a creative work, you get to control who can make copies of it and how they make copies.

Creative Work

The first big issue involves defining what it is to make a creative work. The law requires that it exist in some tangible form -- it can't just be in your head or sailing through the ether, it has to be on disk, paper, carved in stone (sculpture) or the like. It has to be creative (that's a tough one for lawyers to define) and that means it can't just be factual data. But just about anything you write in English (or C++) is going to be a creative work, anything you photograph or sculpt or draw or record. (What you say isn't copyrighted until it's put onto tape -- it has to be in tangible form.) Anything you write and post to the Wes is almost certainly a creative, copyrightable work. Anything you post-process with a computer (like object code) is a derivative work, still copyrighted.

A creative work is under copyright protection the moment it created and as mentioned above, fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

So I don t need to register my work since it is copyrighted automatically? Err, not really. Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Lastly, if registration occurs within 5 years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.

Legal Reminders

Under the Berne copyright convention, which almost all major nations have signed, every creative work is copyrighted the moment it is fixed in tangible form. No notice is necessary, though it helps legal cases. No registration is necessary, though it's needed later to sue. The copyright lasts until 50 years after the author dies. Facts and ideas can't be copyrighted, only expressions of creative effort.

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