Apparently, as a blogger, I'm covered copyright-wise. So don't steal from me, villainous dogs, or I'll take your booty to court (notice how I cleverly avoided cursing not once, but twice, in a manner that inspires pure genius/I am so full of it).
(From http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SusanSpann/25658/)
Eagles' Wings.
• September 16, 2005 - Can I copyright my Blog? (Basic facts about U.S. Copyright law)
Believe it or not, you probably already have.
Original blog entries, like many other creative works, are generally protected by copyright from the moment of creation. Under U.S. law copyright protection attaches automatically to all creative works which meet a few basic requirements.
What are these requirements? To obtain copyright protection under the law of the United States, a work must be “copyrightable subject matter,” must possess the required level of “creativity” and “originality” and must be “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Early copyright law required registration with the U.S. Copyright office and compliance with other specific formalities. Modern law no longer requires compliance with these formalities in order to establish copyright protection, although compliance is still mandatory before the copyright holder can file a lawsuit to stop unlawful use (known as infringement) of a protected work.
We will explore each of these areas in detail over time, but a brief summary will help to illustrate the basic meanings of the terms.
Copyrightable subject matter essentially means “creative works.” U.S. Copyright law protects “original works of authorship,” including literary (written), pictorial, graphic, artistic, architectural, dramatic and musical works. The scope of copyrightable subject matter extends even to movies, recorded performances and creative works based upon earlier works (also called derivative works). Blogs are definitely included.
Copyrightable subject matter does not include individual words, slogans or phrases (frequently protected by trademark), inventions (the subject of patent law), historical facts or blank forms.
Copyright law does not protect the “building blocks” of expression, such as character types (“a priest”), themes (“evil never prospers”), general ideas or concepts subject to the “merger” doctrine.
Copyrightable “creativity” and “originality” require a new creation, as opposed to “mere copying” of works already in existence. Works independently created by the author which represent or contain more than a trivial variation on prior works satisfy the legal tests and qualify for protection.
Blog content cut and pasted from other sources will not, in most cases, qualify for copyright protection. Content cut and pasted without proper attribution may even infringe the legal rights of the owner or copyright holder of the original material and subject the copier to liability for copyright infringement.
Fixation in a tangible medium of expression requires the creator to produce his or her work in a manner which may be viewed, perceived, reproduced or communicated to others. This communication may be achieved either with or without the use of a machine or device. Writing a story on a piece of paper or typing it into a computer constitutes “fixation.” Posting a Blog entry on the Internet or a comment on a message board constitutes “fixation.” Technical rules aside, almost any act which enables the creator to save the work will qualify as fixation for purposes of copyright law.
Notice that copyright law does not require the formal publication or sale of creative works. Why not? The answer lies in the underlying purpose of copyright law.
The United States Constitution grants Congress the power “to promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. (U.S. Constitution, Article I, §8, clause 8) The threshold for copyright protection is low and attaches automatically because copyright law exists to encourage creative activity. Writers are more likely to write, and bloggers more likely to blog, if they have some measure of ownership and control over the fruits of their labor.
What rights does the creator acquire under copyright law? What actions violate those rights? What happens when copyright protection ends?
Those answers and more in future installments.
© Susan Spann, 2005
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