5 Things Every Writer Should Know About Rights

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Most writers I know fall into 1 of 2 camps: people who are (overly) concerned that
someone will steal their work, and innocents who don't take time to learn what rights
they ought to be protecting.



So I'd like to outline the 5 things every writer should know about their rights (and,
by extension, other people's rights).



1. Your work is protected under copyright as soon as you
put it in tangible form.


Your work doesn't need to be published to be protected, and you do not have to display
the copyright symbol on your manuscript to have it protected. (One of the reasons
there is so much confusion surrounding this issue is that the law changed in the 1970s.)



Since your work is copyrighted from the moment you create it, the existence or validity
of your copyright will not be affected if you don't register the work with the U.S.
Copyright Office. (And, in fact, you can register the work after you find infringement
and still be afforded all the protections as if you had registered it earlier.)




2. For shorter works (non-books), publications automatically
acquire one-time rights unless specified otherwise in the contract.


The current law puts the burden on the publication to notify the author in writing
if it wants to acquire any rights other than one-time rights (that is, the right to
publish the work one time). The law also contains termination provisions that allow
an author to regain rights she assigned to others, after a specific period.




3. Your work cannot accidentally fall into the public domain.


Any published or distributed material on which a copyright has expired is considered
to be in the public domain—that is, available for use by any member of the general
public without payment to, or permission from, the original author.




It used to be that your work might accidentally fall into the public domain if not
protected under copyright or published with the copyright symbol. This is not the
case any longer.



4. Selling various rights to your work doesn't affect your
ownership of the copyright.


Various rights are all part of your copyright, but selling them in no way diminishes
your ownership of the actual work. The only way you can give up copyright entirely
is if you sign a contract or agreement that stipulates it is a "work for hire."



5. You can quote other people's work in your own work, without
permission, as long as you abide by fair use guidelines.


The downside here is that there are no hard-and-fast rules as to what constitutes
fair use of a copyrighted work.




The law says that four factors should be considered in determining if a use is fair:




the purpose and character of the use (commercial vs. not-for-profit/educational)

the nature of the copyrighted work

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the entire quoted
work

the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the quoted work


Most publishers have their own fair-use guidelines that they ask their own authors
to abide by. But, if you're picking up only a few hundred words from a full-length
book, it's probably fair use. Always be extremely careful when quoting poetry or song
lyrics—ANY use at all usually requires permission (and a fee).



For more authoritative info on this topic, I highly recommend signing up for an
online educational session next week, with lawyer Amy Cook, who specializes in
publishing law. You'll be able to ask questions live: Copyright
and Contracts




Alternatively, you can read more from these authoritative sources:



2001 Writer's Digest
article on fair use




Stanford University Library has an extensive
online FAQ on copyright and fair use (from NOLO)




Also check the Citizen
Media Law project for a primer

If you know of any good resources on copyright and fair use, please share them in
the comments!





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