There is always a lot of debate over whether copyrights on books are necessary. Let me break it all down for you. Note: All of the information below is for the United States only, and is specifically written for those who are self-publishing. Please check with your country regarding its rules on this matter. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
What I'll be going over in this article:
What is Intellectual Property.
What is a Copyright. What can be Copyrighted.
How long does a Copyright last.
Why you should get a Copyright.
How long does it take to get the Copyright certificate.
WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
According to law.cornell.edu: In general terms, intellectual property is any product of the human intellect that the law protects from unauthorized use by others. The ownership of intellectual property inherently creates a limited monopoly in the protected property. Intellectual property is traditionally comprised of four categories: patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets.In this article, I'll be discussing copyright.
WHAT IS A COPYRIGHT AND WHAT CAN BE COPYRIGHTED
There are many types of copyrights that are not for books: songs, movies, sound recordings, and plays, for example. However, this article is specifically about books.
Per the U.S. Copyright Office:
Copyright commonly does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. You will have to look into trademarking for those things.
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. In copyright law, there are a lot of different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works, plays, and so much more!
A minimal degree of creativity is required for something to by copyrighted. Also, a copyright protects expression, not an idea, process, procedure, etc. In the case of books, your idea for that sci-fi fantasy novel is not protected, but the actual written book is. So don't go telling a bunch of people about your book idea. There is nothing preventing them from taking that idea and writing their own book.
Your book must be fixed to be copyrighted. In layman's terms, this means that it must be written down. That novel idea floating around in your head? Yeah, that's not copyrightable.
HOW LONG DOES A COPYRIGHT LAST
This answer is a bit complicated, based on when the work was published. However, if you are copyrighting a book now, your copyright is good for seventy years past the author's death.
WHY YOU SHOULD GET A COPYRIGHT
I know, I know, I've heard it before too: Your book is copyrighted the moment you write it. Yes, this is absolutely true. But...it may not be enough.
While it’s true that a copyright is not required for publication, having one will add more legal protection to the work.
U.S. Copyright laws were revised in 1989, making your written work protected the moment you write it, whether or not you have a registered copyright. Whether the registered copyright is required or not, it really is a prudent step to take.
Having a registered copyright adds an extra level of protection against potential infringements on your work. And there are a lot of unscrupulous infringers out there. There are so-called publishers that you send your work to. They know you haven't copyrighted your book yet and will take advantage of that fact.
And those beta readers you worked so hard to find? Not all of them are on the up and up. Some will not think twice about stealing it. You just gave them a fully completed book that is not registered anywhere.
If you have a legitimate publisher, most likely they will be the one who files the copyright, not the author.
The fee for copyrighting, which is $65, at the time of this article, is well worth the expense. If you ever need to sue someone for copyright infringement, it will be a whole lot easier with an officially recorded copyright. This fee is nothing compared to what you could lose if someone steals your work and you have no proof that you own it.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET THE COPYRIGHT CERTIFICATE
It can take six months to a year. But if you are filing online, it doesn't usually take that long. I know I usually get mine in about three months.
I hope this article was helpful in your self-publishing journey. For more information, check out my website at www.GreenOwlPress.com.
