Fictional Writings Online

[sleepyhead]

I quite like just writing fictional stuff (I am no good at it and I don't ever seem to get to finish it) and I have at least one reader (it's my mate but hey, one is more than none).

I was thinking of uploading the chapters as blog entries but this lead me to think...

If someone was a fantastic writer but wanted to distribute their work for free how would that person protect their intellectual property from would be copiers who may or may not profiteer from it?

[Lucio]

I quite like just writing fictional stuff (I am no good at it and I don't ever seem to get to finish it) and I have at least one reader (it's my mate but hey, one is more than none).

I was thinking of uploading the chapters as blog entries but this lead me to think...

If someone was a fantastic writer but wanted to distribute their work for free how would that person protect their intellectual property from would be copiers who may or may not profiteer from it?

The best way to ensure you're protected would be to lodge certified copies with a solicitor that were dated. Combine that with a disclaimer on the published medium that these are your intelluectual property and all rights are reserved, along with a clear indication of acceptable use (e.g. if they can copy them to other sites etc.)

Then be prepared if it ever does come up to spend tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees fighting the case.

[Behemoth]

I used to do alot of creative writing and shove it up on my website, got quite a following for a while but just sorta got stuck for things to write in the end, so never really continued. I have started a few new things within the last few years but have never actually finished them.

[sleepyhead]

Thanks

That seems quite a pedantic way of protecting one's work but if they feel like it's worth it, then it's worth going through that effort.

Interesting though.

[Saracen]

The act of creating an original artistic work also creates the copyright. You don't need to do anything, certainly under UK jurisdiction, for copyright to exist. You don't need to post anyone copies, you don't need to explicitly claim copyright, and you don't need to mark it with a copyright symbol. So that, if you like, is Level One protection - the legal rights exist.

And, in general, the person that creates the work owns the copyright. There are exceptions to that, the most obvious being that your employer will own the copyright if the work is created as part of your employment.

Next comes Level Two - deterring others from using your work. That's where sticking copyright notices come in. If you clearly mark the work as copyright, people find it that much harder to pretend, afterwards, that they didn't know. And, of course, those that genuinely don't know that just putting your work on the web does NOT mean you've surrendered copyright will also have been put on notice.

After that is Level Three. This is where sending copies to yourself comes in useful. Should there come to be an argument at some later point about who created the work, and perhaps even more relevantly, exactly when they created it, it will be useful to be able to prove it. Having a copy in a sealed, postmarked (and dated) envelope helps prove when you had that copy. Having it stored somewhere where you do not have access, like with a solicitor or bank deposit box, pretty much nails that down. It'll cost you though. Is the expense worth it?

Finally, Level Four. Ultimately, to protect your copyright, you may need to be prepared to the court action if it's infringed. You will, potentially, be entitled to damages. You'd also be entitled to have an injunction issued to prevent further infringements, and to seizure orders relating to infringing copies. But that's about it.

So, should it get to the court stage, there are two main questions: what will it cost, and what damages are you likely to get?

The answer to the first part is that it'll cost rather a lot. Thousands, almost certainly, if it actually gets to court. What damages will you get? That depends on what you lost, because the damages will be compensation for losses. If your work was hijacked, professionally published and turned out the be the next Harry Potter phenomenon, you'd be entitled to a fair old bit. But if someone nicks it, and sticks it on their website, how can you quantify, and prove, the financial loss you suffered as a result?

And it's that last bit that leads to the primary question you need to ask yourself - if push comes to shove, how much are you prepared to spend defending what may well be a right that has little or no commercial value? That suggests that the automatic Level 1 protection is great, in theory, and that as Level 2 costs nowt it's worth doing. But is the cost of bank deposits or having solicitors hold sealed copies worth paying for? Unless you're prepared to at least consider funding court action, probably not.

Of course, the ultimate in protection against having your copyright infringed if you put your work on the web, Level 5 protection, is absolutely free. Don't put it on the web.


So, in conclusion, like so much of the law, your 'rights' are only of any use if you're prepared to take what may be expensive court action to defend them, if it comes to it. Of course, if someone puts your copyright work on another website, notifying their ISP might well result in it being taken down, and possibly in their account being taken down too. Maybe. But if the ISP resists, again, you're looking at court action to enforce it.

All of which begs the question ..... is it worth it?


Note : the "Level" system isn't law or anything, it's just my way of breaking it down.

[sleepyhead]

Comprehensive reply Saracen. Thank you for the time you put in to reply.

Please don't hate me though...I only asked the question out of curiousity.

It would be very foolish and egotistical of me to even think that any of my work is of any value other than to my friends who want to read it (and bash me for it) to warrant such elaborate copyright methods.

It was the train of thought that if, say, the Harry Potter books were free to read on the web how would that person protect themselves if someone plagerised the work, sold it on and made a butt load of money that lead to the original question.

[Saracen]

.....

Please don't hate me though...I only asked the question out of curiousity.

.....

Arghh.

If you turn around quickly, you'll be just in time to see the especially rotten egg I've just thrown at you arriving at it's destination.




Seriously though, no problem. That's what discussion forums are for.

[Bluecube]

I just chuecked my book up on my website for free download (link below in sig). I added a bit at the beginning saying that the copyright is mine which I hope will be enough! In the end though I just want people to read and enjoy my writings and providing they don't claim anything I write for themselves I'm happy for the stuff to be freely distributable.