![]() ![]() Regardless of whether or not a copyright has been registered, it’s advisable to place a copyright notice, e.g., © 2014 Dario Ciriello somewhere visible on the work. This basic, automatic copyright for all works, even those not registered with the Copyright Office, has limits, however, and I’d strongly recommend that authors register their works so as to enjoy the stronger protection of registration (see below). The only exceptions which concern us as authors are titles and short phrases, slogans, etc., neither of which can be copyrighted. As soon as you do that, your original work enjoys copyright protection. The key concepts here are that the work must be original (“original works of authorship”) and that it should be fixed if you tell someone all about the book you’re going to write and they then hijack your idea and write it, you have no recourse-the work must be “fixed in a tangible medium”. But there are distinct benefits to registering your copyright.Īnything original that you write has automatic and immediate copyright protection the moment it is “fixed in a tangible form of expression”-in other words, written down, even in electronic form. Since the 1976 Copyright Act, a work (in our case, a book or piece of fiction) no longer has to be registered with the US Copyright Office to enjoy protection under federal law. ![]()
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