FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

Copyright expert breaks down basics of law for freelancers

by Jeremy Schnitker

Ms. Hurley Hall

Freelance writers love being freelance writers because they work for themselves and their work isn't always beholden to a certain magazine or newspaper. With this autonomy, however, also comes the responsibility of knowing when and how to copyright your material. SoloGigNews spoke with freelance writer, copyright expert and author of GetPaidtoWriteOnline.com Sharon Hurley Hall about some of the finer points of copyright laws for writing and the basics a freelancer should know about them.

SGN: Does a freelancer have to make an effort to copyright his or her work, or is it automatically copyrighted the minute they publish it?
SHH: Work is automatically copyrighted when you write and publish it.

SGN: You say an idea can't be copyrighted, but what's written can be. What constitutes "written"? Being published? If you just write something yourself and nobody else sees it can it be copyrighted? What are ways to prove you actually wrote something?
SHH: Although you don't have to register copyright, you can choose to do so through the U.S. Copyright Office. We have the option of sending a copy of the work to ourselves by registered mail (which is date stamped) and leaving it unopened. This provides proof of the date on which it existed if proof is ever needed.

SGN: What constitutes an independent intellectual effort?
SHH: Independent intellectual effort means that the individual has applied thought and creativity to the production of the written work. In other words, it's not something you've copied or paraphrased, but something new that you've thought up on your own. Obviously, there's a limit to how far you can take this, because several people write and publish on the same topic, but the expression of their thoughts is unique in each case.

SGN: How long does a copyright last?
SHH: The duration of a copyright depends on the type of published work. For most work it's 70 years after the author's death.

SGN: When you let a magazine or newspaper publish an article of yours do you own it anymore? Do you still have rights to it? How do you maintain those rights?
SHH: Usually when you let a magazine publish an article, you are offering the right to publish it in a magazine for the first time, known as first serial rights. After that, the rights revert to you. There is no obligation for you to sell all rights though many publications attempt to lump in online rights and archive rights. If they want those rights, then they should pay more for the piece. The best thing to do is to make it clear what rights you are offering when you sell a piece.

SGN: How do you go about punishing or exposing somebody who stole an idea or a story from you?
SHH: Well, you can take people to court for copyright infringement, but you may not need to do that in all cases. Sometimes informing the person that they have infringed your copyright is enough to make them acknowledge that and remove or apologize for the infringement.

SGN: What happens if you mistakenly write something that has already been done without knowing it had already been done? Can you get out of trouble for that?
SHH: They say that ignorance is no excuse, but if you make a genuine mistake and are prepared to rectify it, then you will probably be OK. That's why you see in some books a statement like: 'Every effort has been made to seek the permission of copyright owners of quoted material' and an invitation to get in touch if you own the copyright to something that has been used.

Helpful Links:

United States Copyright Office

Writer's Weekly article on copyright law

Wikipedia entry on U.S. copyright law

---

Filed Under: Writing