Hi, I'm new to the blogosphere and I aim to put up lots of my poetry and stories. My question is about copyright protection. I notice that a blogger named Johnbalaya has a copyright notice attached to all his stories; how does one go about doing that? Is it possible that Johnbalaya's work has been published previously, and that's why he has protection? What about the rest of us? Appreciate your help, Michael Wray
So, I’m not super in depth with all the copyright laws but I will try and give you the best answer I can. I was researching and I found this article about copyright over a piece of work originally posted online, before being published, here. And also a shorter, more condensed version of that article by the same people here. (I’m sorry it’s a 50 shades reference but it is actually probably really relevant to artists who post online and want to get recognition for their work).
But the basics of it are: if you post something or write it down it is automatically protected under copyright. It just has to be an ‘original’ idea. By that they mean, it has to be in your own words, not that it is a whole new concept no one’s heard of. Because let’s be honest. There really is no such thing anymore (not necessarily a bad thing).
If you don’t want to read the article’s (don’t really blame you) here are some key points I think are relative to your question(s):
Copyright exists to protect original ideas that have been “fixed” -for text, that means it’s been written down, or typed and saved on digital media. It doesn’t protect the idea itself, just the expression. Theoretically, if two people working independently write exactly the same paragraph, both will hold valid copyrights in the work that they created.
"Original" in copyright law only means that the expression of an idea originated from the artist - not that it is something new that has never been done before.
Copyright exists as soon as you put pen to paper, or even do a keysmash. You don’t need to “buy” your copyright from the US Copyright office. There are other benefits to registering your copyright, but whether you have or not, your copyright is still valid. That’s been the law since the late 70s.
(again, located here)
Even though somethings posted on the internet you still own it, as long as it’s in your own words.
Now, I’m not sure how they have a copyright warning on there (if it’s an official stamp type thing). I know sites like deviant art do this automatically for all their users posts. BUT you could always put a disclaimer on all your work. Saying something along the lines of ‘This is so and so’s work protected under copyright. Don’t claim it as your own’ and you could add something like ‘if you post this on another site or use it, give credit to the author and link to the original post’, if you don’t mind people sharing your work.
I hope I’ve helped answer your question! If not let me know and I can try again and/or (probably) link you to some blogs who are awesome with this sort of thing!
Thanks!!
Side note: I’m not sure what you could do, if anything, if someone was copying your work. You could probably start by reporting them to whatever site they posted on/you posted on?