About Your Copyright by Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach

About Your Copyright by Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach

With the easy access of the Internet, more people are writing and creating and displaying their art publicly than ever before. As a marketing coach, I receive many questions about copyrightshow to get your own, and how to know about someone elses work.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A COPYRIGHT?

According to the U. S. Copyright Office, a copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.

You can see its a broad definition. One of the most important things to note is that its a misconception that you must use a copyright notice on your work, or see one on someone elses for it to be copyrighted. This was required at one time, but is no longer.

So, just because youre looking at someones Internet course, or reading an article they wrote, and it doesnt have a copyright notice on iteither on the Internet or hard copydoesnt mean it isnt copyrighted. In fact it is copyrighted the minute it takes tangible form.

This has two ramifications. First of all, its still good to use the copyright notice on your work, i.e., . You can make this by going to Insert then symbol then special characters then click on thesymbol and then Insert and then close.
Of in a word document, simply type this( c ) (without spaces between) and it will automatically convert to thesymbol.

According to the U. S. Copyright Office, the following works of authorship are covered:

1.Literary works
2.Musical works, including any accompanying words
3.Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
4.Pantomimes and choreographic works
5.Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works
6.Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
7.Sound recordings
8.Architectural works

Immediately the minute you create your work in fixed form it is your property.

The U. S. Copyright office specifies that all these categories should be taken broadly. For instance a map could be registered as pictorial work. There are benefits to registering, of course.

But do understand that someone elses work is copyrighted whether theres the symbol on it. Respect the international copyright law! When in doubt, contact the person for permission.

For more information, go here: http://www.copyright.gov .

And of course always check with an intellectual property attorney for legal information.
About the Author
Susan Dunn, marketing coach, http://www.webstrategies.cc . Ebook writing and launch, web strategies, marketing and promotion, press releases, web design, article-writing and submission. Full-service, consultation and implementation, advice and resources. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for free ezine, put checklist for subject line.