Need help with copyrighting ...

[Big Nate]

I have several stories I would like to post on here but haven't the first clue as to how to go about copyrighting them so that I may submit them. I have searched the threads here and the FAQs and what not but have had no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I apologize ahead of time if this has been run into the ground already. Thanks.

 

[MathGirl]

Dear Nate,
As I understand it, if you post or publish something in your name, it amounts to a de facto copyright.
MG

 

[Guest]

Yes, you need not do anything. Look at the stories and you'll see the copyright sign after each title line, on the name line, forget.

Lit. does it for us somehow. Or pretends to. Ha ha.

best, Perdita

 

[Quasimodem]

And naturally, the copyright is worth every penny that you spent for it.

 

[gauchecritic]

You wrote it, (I hope) you posted it, it gets a date and time of posting and your pen name can be traced to you. It's as effective as sending an original m/s to yourself and saving the original unopened, postmarked jiffy-bag.

Gauche

 

[Weird Harold]

I have several stories I would like to post on here but haven't the first clue as to how to go about copyrighting them so that I may submit them.

As others have pointed out, you do not need to register the copyright to submit stories here.

The point that has not been made clear so far in this thread is that "Registering a Copyright" is not the same thing as "copyrighting" your stories -- The stories are copyrighted as soon as you start typing; copyrighting is inherent in writing the story. All a formal registration of a copyright does is provide a legal proof that you intend to enforce your copyright.

Not registering a copyright does not keep you from enforcing it, but it does make enforcing it easier.

How copyright works at Literotica:

1: You write a story, which automatically give you unlimited ownership of the Copyright to that story.

2: You submit the story to Literotica, implicitly claiming that you own the copyright to that story, and incidentally providing a prior publishing proof that youdo claim copyright.

2a: In implicitly claiming the copyright, you explicitly grant Literotica a limited license or limited copyright to publish the story on this site without modification -- sometimes called First Publishing Copyright. (publishing on this site also includes publishing on other sites via links to Literotica authorized by Literotica because Literotica provides story links for other sites in cross-linking agreements.)

3: You retain all other rights to your story: The right to modify it, publish it elsewhere, or get paid for any profit made from the story. Literotica only has a claim on your story as it pertains to the operation of Literotica.

 

[Big Nate]

Thank you so much. Glad to hear that it's not complicated at all. I'll have to get those stories submitted now.

 

[Rainbow Skin]

Before 1989 in the United States an explicit act of registration was needed, and you did have to use the (c) symbol, and so on.

In 1989 the US finally acceded to the Berne Convention, so the basics of copyright law are now the same throughout the world.

As Weird Harold says, copyright is yours from the instant of creation, and requires no marking or registration. Adding these might still be helpful if you think someone could try to rip you off: such as if you put it on a dodgy Web site with no datestamps, or post off your only manuscript to a seedy vanity press.

The other important world standard that now applies is copyright subsisting for seventy years after the author's death. (That's in new works, not in old mice, o' course.)

 

[oggbashan]

Header

I include the following header in all my works wherever posted. It is enough to cover the requirements of the Berne Convention:

" Copyright Oggbashan July/November 2002
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as
the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are
imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and
are not intended to represent specific places or living
persons."

The two dates indicate that there was an earlier version. Both versions are copyright.

I have no copyright on this header. You can copy it and adapt it for your own use.

Og

 

[snooper]

I do much the same as Og. My header runs:

(c) 2002 Author's name All rights reserved.

The author has asserted the moral rights under sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All the main characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance between Abby, Charles and Mark and real people, living or dead, is wholly a matter of Nature imitating Art. There is no such country as Belgium. However the horse steaks in Le Royale at Schaerbeek really are superb, and rue Aerschot is on the eastern side of the railway going north from Bruxelles Nord station.

As you may notice, I try to lighten it up a little, and to add credits where credits are due.