Lyle Cochran is a PC technician with over 10 years experience and webmaster of Cheap Computer Solutions, where you can learn the secret to finding cheap computer hardware parts and retailers online. The number one site for cheap computer how-to shopping guides. Download your free Cheap Computer Parts Organizer now.
Copyright © 1997-2006, Lyle Cochran, bytepowered.org
The digital age of cyber publishing and intellectual property raises many questions about copyrighting. If you have never published anything in your life, you still hold copyrights. If you do publish your work, how do you know your copyrights are in place? Copyrighting is not complicated or difficult, there is a quick and easy way to copyright any creative material you produce.
Copyright law in the United States is extremely generous toward the creators and owners of new works. Legal copyright protection is in effect immediately and automatically upon the creation of any "original work of authorship" that is "fixed in any tangible medium of expression."
In other words, a copyright notice is not necessary for your work to comply with U.S. Copyright law. For example, when authors, webmasters, amateur writers or anyone else submit creative material of any kind for publishing, that creative material is automatically copyrighted. No copyright notice is necessary to be legally binding.
The laws are so generous in fact that the notes or scribbles you mindlessly make while speaking on the phone are considered copyrighted material, even if you wad it up and toss it in the trash at the end of the call. This does not mean that copyrighting should be taken lightly. There are significant legal advantages to using a copyright notice.
Copyrights can also be given away in part or in whole and must be agreed to in writing. The details of this are way beyond the scope of this writing. All authors and publishers have taken part in copyright agreements knowingly or unknowingly.
Quick and Easy Copyrighting:
The conventional copyright notice consists of 3 elements. The the word "copyright" or the copyright symbol, the year, and the name of the copyright owner.
Copyright © 2006 [Your Name or Company]
To comply with current copyright law and to copyright any computer generated creative materials follow this formula. First, add the copyright notice as described above to the end of the document. When you have finished editing, save your document as a file.
Finally, print the complete document with the title or file name and the current date. Set these to be printed in your printer settings or use the header and footer options of your text editor. Optionally you can simply type the title and date along with your copyright notice manually.
For example:
Copyright © 2006 Lyle Cochran
Copyright Procedures, Quick and Easy, July, 19, 2006
The printed hard copy becomes your Master Document. This document should be protected at all cost as it is proof that you are the author of the created material.
Other medium:
If your creative material is on some fixed and tangible medium other than computer, your hand written signature and date is usually enough copyright protection until you can apply for copyright.
Summary:
I know that the procedure outlined here sounds too easy, but it is the procedure recommended by the U. S. Copyright Office. This short procedure is valid and will stand on its own in litigation. Remember that the original date is key and a hard copy adds considerable weight to ownership.
If you wish to make your copyright bullet proof, you can begin copyright procedures online at the United States Copyright Office. ( http://www.copyright.gov/ )
Quotes Resource: http://www.copyright.gov/
- Related Videos
- Related Articles
- Ask / Related Q&A
- Calling all authors, publishers and agents looking for a website – work with UK web professionals and take advantage of the US/UK exchange rates
- Book Author Published Scriptural Model On Suffering
- Self-published Book Author Publishes a Better Hope for America
- Book Author Publishes Early Diabetes Risk Recognition and Avoidance
- Book Author Publishes Essentials for Great Leadership
- What's in store for the book industry and its authors?
- The Challenges With Ebook Publishing
- To be published or to self publish, that is the question.
How To Get Abs Quick
By: Owen Linnen | 19/12/2009Getting six pack abs quick isn't hard, it's actually quite easy if you follow these simple little steps, so learn how you can get those six pack abs quick all from home!
Method to Getting hot Six pack Abs
By: Owen Linnen | 15/12/2009Searching for what you need to eat to reduce weight and get 6 pack abs? Well numerous people would have you eat all sorts of things, here is what you should be consuming.
Private Meal Plan For Hard Abs
By: Owen Linnen | 15/12/2009Want to know what you should be consuming to burn belly fat, lose wieight and get six pack abs? Lucky I'm going to tell you.
The Cheapest Indianapolis Auto Insurance for teenagers
By: Jayant Bauer | 07/12/2009It’s common fact that Indianapolis car insurance for teenagers doesn’t come cheap. You do have some options as this article explains.
Do You Have Minerals and Reserves in Your Land? Consider Oil and Gas Royalties Investment
By: Elle Wood | 01/12/2009Oil and gas royalties as well as mineral rights may seem to be a complicated deal to embark on but with an incessant demand for oil and gas, maybe it’s time to give this profitable niche a shot. But before you put your feet onto this venture, it pays to know further information concerning the field.
Fine Points on Buying and Selling Mineral Rights
By: Elle Wood | 01/12/2009It’s amazing how the earth’s surface could be a source of mineral deposits and reserves. Fossil fuels the likes of copper, gold, coal, rocks, stones, non-metallic resources and even sand can be found on the face of this planet.
The Music Copyright Law of Today's Industry
By: Jesse Sbicca | 13/11/2009Authorized by the U.S. Constitution, the government is granted sole power to provide authors and inventors exclusive rights to their respective lyrics, music, and discoveries. Specifically, music copyright laws are generated to protect an authors' music composition for an undisclosed amount of years. It is the responsibility of the copyright holder to renew such copyright as it only holds for a specific period of time. An authors' music composition or "intellectual property" should be....
Avoiding copyright infringement
By: Alex Stanley | 30/10/2009There are many different types of copyright infringement and some forms of it may be happening under your watch. In an organisational setting, you are ultimately responsible for the actions of the individuals that work under you. As such, any illegal downloading or software usage that happens on your company premises is something that you are responsible for. In order to avoid this from happening, educate yourself about copyright infringement.
Install Windows Xp Built-in Fax Service
By: Lyle Cochran | 10/01/2007 | ComputersHey, wouldn't it be great to send and receive faxes from your Windows XP computer without having to buy expensive software? If you have a fax modem installed or you can have one installed, you can do just that. Here's how.
Microsoft Windows is a Greedy Memory Hog, the Cure is to Feed it
By: Lyle Cochran | 03/09/2006 | HardwareGet a new faster PC for the price of a RAM module. Take your computing to the next level. Speed up your PC increase stability and reduce Windows crashes. Finding the right memory for your PC is easy.
Copyright Procedures; Quick and Easy
By: Lyle Cochran | 23/07/2006 | CopyrightThe digital age of cyber publishing and intellectual property raises many questions about copyrighting. If you have never published anything in your life, you still hold copyrights. If you do publish your work, how do you know your copyrights are in place? Copyrighting is not complicated or difficult, there is a quick and easy way to copyright any creative material you produce.
Internet Provider Connection Software - Why?
By: Lyle Cochran | 20/07/2006 | SoftwareAs a computer technician I encounter many misconceptions about computers. Internet provider software is one that is often misunderstood. Internet service providers often give customers the false impression that their software is necessary to connect to the internet. If you are one of these folks, you may be asking yourself what other impressions your cheap Internet service provider is giving you.
Temporary Internet Files - Truth and Consequences
By: Lyle Cochran | 20/07/2006 | ComputersMuch has been written about temporary internet files. To my amazement, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about how these files are put on your computer and the effect they have on your computing experience. Some articles propose these files slow your computer to a crawl, others indicate they are memory hogs. While some suggest that these files only affect the MS Internet Explorer browser.