The following represents a series of articles and postings on the subject of copyright.

Entry

Message Board Protection (enchantedwords--0022, 980906)		Copyright for Online Works (enchantedwords--e-mail article, 990507)
Copyright 101: The Basics (AngelPie_Mouse--990513)		FL 106: COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION OF POETRY
Copyright Forms (PDF Format) (The US Library of Congress)

Notes: The notation (person--####, yymmdd) represents the original message board entry information. Entry number #### may vary and is therefore only approximate.

Message 22: Copyright
EnchantedWords
Sep 6 1998 7:48AM EDT

Copyright (Message Board Protection)

With each and every posting to any kind of communication medium, through the Internet or BB's, your work is Copyrighted. The first rights apply to the Forum's server, nothing more can be applied unless stipulated through information in guidelines. The host gains nothing though, so the rights to post are given and the Copyright stays to the author. You should sign each poem with a signature example as this:

Copyright © 1998
ENCHANTED WORDS

If someone were to "steal" your words and use it under their name, you have recourse. The signing of poetry or works of writing just makes it more legal tender in court. It's a choice you need to ponder, I've read Copyright books and feel better having my signature on the bottom, or wherever.

Hope this makes sense and is helpful. There are many books on Copyright law and what can be done to insure your work. Read up on it, may be helpful to others or yourself someday.

Be well...

crowstouch

Note: crowstouch is only one alternate signature for EnchantedWords.

From: "crowstouch" [address blanked]
To: angel-pie
Subject: Copyright for Online Works
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:24:45 -0400

Also submited as 881

Copyright for Online Works

With an ever-increasing venue of text, artwork, and musical sounds over the Internet, people rarely give thought to having their Web site protected by a Copyright. Businesses, major commerce sites, all are privy to knowing what a Copyright is and does toward their online works. You can obtain information about what a Copyright is and how it protects your art (writing, painting, graphical works, music, etc.), even if not mandated, through the Copyright Office within the Library of Congress.

As a writer, I know how the Copyright protects my written works, but until my recent visit to the Library of Congress, I did not know how a Copyright would apply to my Web site, which contains several pages of written material from other people. When you accept submitted material from people and apply it to your Web site there is a responsibility in making sure it is not reproduced without the Author's permission. Giving the "Copyright © 1999 John Doe" notice (also the © symbol, then date and name), quote; "in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the claim of Copyright," is solid proof of having that protection. That doesn't mean someone will not steal your work, if they do though and are caught, there are legal actions that can be taken. Taking the process one step farther and registering the material with the Copyright Office makes that protection even stronger.

Circular 66 gives general information about copyright registration for online works. I may make specific quotes from the material or give the same information in my words for the sake of space. You can write to the Library of Congress for certain circulars, or go to the Web site http://www.loc.gov/copyright and request any of the material that applies to your online works. Later in this article I will give all the information needed to do just that.

I went to the Copyright Office in Washington D.C. and was impressed with the professionalism of my inquiries about a Copyright. I think everyone who is involved with writing go experience what the Library of Congress has in ways of written work. It isn't just one building, but three: the Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson Building), the James Madison Memorial Building, and the John Adams Building. Each of these historical structures contains research rooms, artwork, writings, and architecture dating back to the late 1800's.

Quote: "Copyright protects original authorship fixed in tangible form. 17 U.S.C. sec. 102(a). For works transmitted online, the copyrightable authorship may consist of text, artwork, music, audiovisual material (including any sounds), sound recordings, etc. Copyright does NOT protect ideas, procedures, systems, or methods of operation, 17 U.S.C. sec. 102(b). Under U.S. law, copyright protection subsists from the time the work is fixed." The above paragraph is self-explanatory, for more generalized information about Copyright, request Circular 1, "Copyright Basics."

Registering your site, what is on that site rather than the particular Web site as a whole, does give some feeling of comfort. Knowing someplace in the massive archives the Library of Congress has, your piece is safe and nestled in a small area of space. It doesn't have to be each individual written material (I say material relating to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and many aspects of literary works); you can collectively register several pieces at once and with different authors.

This is what the registration of an online work covers:

1. All online works other than computer programs and databases. The registration will extend only to the copyrightable content of the work as given to the Copyright Office, and identified as the subject of the claim.
2. Quote: "For online computer programs and databases, the registration will extend to the entire copyrightable content of the work owned by the claimant, even though the entire content is not required in the identifying material deposited.
3. Previously published, registered, or that is in public domain, material should be excluded.
4. Published works, should be limited to, quote: "the content of the work asserted to be published on the date given on the application."
5. Revisions and updates; there is no registration for individual works covering revisions published on multiple dates. Each daily revision may be registered separately given it applies to the copyrightable authorship.
   1. Nature of Copyrightable Authorship: Original authorship examples are, "artwork," "music," "text," "photographs," and "audiovisual material." This does not include terms such as "format," "layout," "design," or related computer slang words for programming.

I am not giving all the details as explained throughout circular 66. You can get more explicit explanations by acquiring the circular, and any circular you need for the particular material to be registered. This is just a short synopsis of what registering your work online is and where to get the information.

How to register work transmitted online:

1. Send these three items to the Library of Congress
   1. Application form
   2. Appropriate deposit material
   3. Filing fee for each application
2. Application Forms
   1. Form TX.literary material, including computer programs and databases
   2. Form VA.pictorial and graphic works, including cartographic material
   3. Form PA.audiovisual material, including any sounds, music, or lyrics
   4. Form SR.sound recording, excluding sounds accompanying an audiovisual work
   5. Form SE.a single issue of a serial (Newsletters published more often than weekly and group registration of multiple issues on different dates)
   6. Form SE/Group.a group of issues of a serial, including daily newsletters
   7. Form GR/CP.a group of contributions to a periodical (This form must be used in conjunction with Form TX, PA, or VA)

The Library of Congress's Internet site has a circular that explains each of those forms. More detailed information in all aspects to writing online and having your work registered with a Copyright. You are not obligated to do anything but the Copyright notice as explained earlier, and still have your online works protected. Placing your art on the Internet without notice of a Copyright is asking anyone to use your material without your expressed consent as an author. Applying the Copyright notice and registration gives added protection to the extensive work pertaining to a Web site, your rights as an author of art applied to that site.

Acquiring information:

1. Information via the Internet:
   
   www.loc.gov/copyright
2. Fax - on - Demand:
   
   (202) 707-2600 (Circulars and information but not application forms)
3. Telephone:
   
   (202) 707-8250 (Specific questions pertaining to registering online works).
   
   (202) 707-3000 (General information about copyright)
4. Mail:

   Library of Congress Copyright Office Public Information Office, LM-401 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

There is one other Circular, SL-10 "Get It Quick Over the Net," that gives more about how to obtain information online and via fax.

I hope this information is helpful to you and expands your knowledge base about protecting what you give as art online.

Brought to you by:
Enchanted Words
Owen Black

Also, reproduced on the message board as entries 0875 and 0876 on date 05/07/99.

Note: crowstouch is only one alternate signature for EnchantedWords.

Copyright 101: The Basics

What is a copyright?

There are two ways of looking at the concept of "copyright." The first is that it represents a warranty or claim of authorship. The author's name followed by the symbol "©" and the word "copyright, year" constitute a notification of claim. The claimant is stating: 1) that this piece is his/her work; 2) that it does not substantially consist of material written by another; 3) and, that it was not created or written as an employee or agent of another for which consideration was made. (Example of the last is, for instance, when Bill, the Microsoft software programmer writes a swell new game module on company time. Because of the nature of his contract with Microsoft, he would not under most circumstances be able to claim copyright for this material). The second way of looking at this concept is that a copyright is the right to copy, print, distribute, publish, perform, profit from, or otherwise use a work in its entirety or a portion thereof.

In general, all rights belong to the author of that work unless he assigns some portion of that right to other individuals through sales or other consideration. Guaranteeing those rights, however, is sometimes a difficult matter. How do you prove that you are the author? How do you prove that the influence of other writers is not substantially demonstrated in your work? And, conversely, how do you prove that someone else has stolen your work?

There are several methods for making legal claim and protecting your work:

1. copyright signature -- the primary method (which all of us should be using minimally) is the placement of the notice of claim at the end of the material. The author's name followed by the symbol "©" and the word "copyright, year" constitute a notification of claim as noted above.
2. documentary evidence -- it is a good idea to keep all drafts and notes of an original work in hard copy or in some other permanent record form. If you are then challenged for proof that the work is your own, or required to so by someone's theft of your work, you can produce your drafts which they obviously would not have.
3. dated documentary evidence -- Legal date stamp is achievable by placing a draft of an item in an envelop and mailing it to yourself and then placing the unopened envelope away for safe keeping. The stamp and postage cancellation constitutes proof of date of ownership. The work now has some protection against theft which can then be produced in court or opened in the presence of an officer of the court to prove your ownership. (When sending out your manuscript to a publisher, always send yourself a copy at the same time.) As a general rule of thumb, this form of protection will stand for two years but should be renewed thereafter (at least that was the opinion the last time I consulted a copyright attorney).
4. registered copyright -- this method requires the placing of a copy of your work in hardcopy in the archives of the Library of Congress in the US or similar filing agency world wide. There is usually a fee for this archival service. Time limit on expiration is generally twenty years past the death of the author and renewable for twenty year periods thereafter by filing entity (heirs of the author). Amendments, edits, new material, and variations on the original manuscript may be added to the original archival copy with a re-filing charge and proper documentation.

How does this affect Internet publication?

Internet publication, according to current law, is subject to the same restrictions as any other media of publication. However, if you desire to register your copyright, you are subject to those laws and forms as affect print media and must file hardcopy of the document with the government agency pertinent to you (i.e.: the Library of Congress in the U.S.).

Wait a minute here! I'm writing poetry, not the Great American Novel!

Registration of copyright of poetry can be singly--per poem--or by volume of work. That choice is yours. There have in the past been certain drawbacks to filing poems by volume concerning how much can be quoted without giving you attribution or remuneration, but if you do choose to register each poem then you must pay the filing fee and fill out a registration form for each per U.S. regulation.

Following is FL106, the specific regulation per the Library of Congress concerning the registration of poetry reprinted in its entirety from their website. Please note: the reference to "phonorecords" refers to the fact that poetry is often a performance art and often can only be adequately reproduced in audio form.

AngelPie_Mouse

U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress

FL 106

COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION OF POETRY

Claims to copyright in either published or unpublished poetry may be registered in the Copyright Office. Form TX should be used to apply for copyright registration for poems. To apply for registration, send the following material in the same envelope or package to the Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559:

1. A correctly completed application form; and
2. A $20.00 nonrefundable filing fee for each application; and
3. A nonreturnable deposit of the work to be registered.

The deposit requirements depend on whether the work has been published at the time of registration:

• If the work is unpublished, one complete copy or phonorecord.
• If the work was first published in the United States on or after January 1, 1978, two complete copies or phonorecords of the best edition.
• If the work was first published in the United States before January 1, 1978, two complete copies or phonorecords as first published.
• If the work was first published outside of the United States, one complete copy or phonorecord of the work as first published.
• If the work is a contribution to a collective work, and published after January 1, 1978, one complete copy or phonorecord of the best edition of the collective work.

Published collections of poetry and all of the copyrightable elements of a unit of publication may be registered on a single form with a single fee if all of the poems are owned by the same copyright claimant.

Unpublished collections of two or more poems can be submitted for registration on a single form with a single fee and deposit of one complete copy or phonorecord only if all of the following conditions are met:

1. the elements are assembled in an orderly form;
2. the combined elements bear a single title identifying the collection as a whole;
3. the copyright claimant in all of the elements, and the collection as a whole, is the same; and
4. all of the elements are by the same author, or, if they are by different authors, at least one of the authors has contributed copyrightable authorship to each of the elements.

Registration of an unpublished collection of compositions extends to each copyrightable selection in the collection, but only the collection title appears in the Copyright Office catalogs and indexes.

See Circular 1 for further information on copyright and registration procedures.

***2/3/96***

Copyright Office * Library of Congress * Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

Also reproduced at message board entries 912, 913, and 914 (a series) on 05/14/99.

Copyright Forms

The forms are reproduced here for the ease of our members exactly as they were presented on the Library of Congress website. To access them, you must have or obtain a copy of Acrobat Reader. These may then be printed out using the "Print" option in the reader.

• Form TX - For published or unpublished non-dramatic literary works.
• Form TX with instructions
• Short Form TX - Simplified version of Form TX.

NOTE: Filing fees are effective through June 30, 1999. After that date, please check this website or call (202) 707-3000 for the latest fee information.