Copyright for Authors and Creators

• Early on, think about how you plan to use and disseminate your work
• Get permission to reuse content that was created by others
• Properly credit all authors whose work you reuse
• Consider registering your works with the US Copyright Office
• If you publish with a publisher, use a publisher willing to negotiate to allow authors to retain certain rights
• Carefully review all publishers' copyright agreement forms
• Attach an addendum if necessary, in order to retain rights
• Keep a record of all signed documents
• Comply with any publisher restrictions on use

What kinds of things are copyrighted? Copyright protects any “original works of authorship” that are somehow "fixed" in time and space - e.g., written down, posted on the web, scribbled on a cocktail napkin. All of these are copyrighted:

• Letters, emails, text messages
• Prepared speeches
• Digital or print photographs
• Web sites
• Music, audio recordings, films
• Plays, dances, artwork
• Books 
• Software

Who owns copyright?

• The person(s) authoring the work generally owns the copyright.
• Works created by an employee, in the course of his/her employment, are generally owned by the employer. This is a "work for hire."

What cannot be copyrighted?

• Things that are not “fixed”: Impromptu speeches; singing in the shower.
• Factual information: Weights & measures, lists, addresses, dates…
• Inventions, slogans: This is what patents & trademarks are for.

How long does copyright last? A long time – generally speaking, copyright lasts 70 years after the life of the author. If a work is created by a corporation or employer, copyright lasts 95 years past the publication date. See this site for more information.

What kinds of things are no longer covered by copyright? Works published a long time ago – before 1923 – are no longer covered by copyright. These are thus said to be in the “public domain.” There are other ways to release a copyright, intentionally to share works with others, such as Creative Commons.

Copyright vs. Plagiarism: Copyright is different from plagiarism – “plagiarism” is an appropriation of someone else’s work without giving proper credit. You can plagiarize without infringing a copyright.