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La protezione delle opere non statunitensi attraverso l’utilizzo della legge sul diritto d’autor
Non è necessario risiedere negli Stati Uniti per beneficiare dei molti vantaggi delle leggi sul diritto d’autore statunitensi. Queste leggi offrono alcune delle migliori tutele al mondo ed i titolari non statunitensi di diritti d’autore – inclusi media e società di software, scrittori, bloggers, artisti, fotografi, designers e tanti altri liberi professionisti – sono in grado di fare uso delle norme di legge di questo paese senza che sia necessario registrare le opere negli Stati Uniti.
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Protecting non-U.S. Works Using U.S. Copyright Law
You don’t have to be a resident of the United States to take advantage of the many benefits of U.S. copyright laws. These laws offer some of the strongest protections of any country and non-U.S. copyright holders—including media and software companies, writers, bloggers, artists, photographers, designers, and any other creative professionals—can use legal enforcement methods available here even without registering your work in this country.
Benefits of Copyright Registration
While it is true that copyright protection for a creative work vests in the author of that work from the moment it becomes fixed in a tangible medium of expression, you shouldn't ignore the incredibly strong benefits of registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. This article discusses some basics of copyright law and why registration is such a good idea.
What does the backlog at the Copyright Office mean for Authors?
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the backlog of paper-based copyright registrations at the U.S. Copyright office is approaching two years due to unforeseen glitches in the Office’s new registration software. For anyone who has tried to register a copyright through the online eCO system, this will come as no surprise—the interface is terrible, the response time is slow, and the learning curve is steep. Still, authors who manage to work their way through the online system are rewarded not only with an extra $10 but also can hope to get their applications processed in about 6 months rather than 18+. Not bad, until you realize that the original promise of the eCO (”electronic Copyright Office”) system was that it would take less than a month to get a certificate for online applications.
The Post article is helpful in showing the problems within the office, both the disaster of the software itself and the painful lack of foresight shown in its implementation. In order to add some human interest to the reporting, however, the author tells the stories of three authors (all songwriters) who have been affected by the problems. Their tales of woe add poignancy to the article and attempt to illustrate how government incompetence is preventing ordinary people from making money from their creative works.
Problem is, the perceptions of all three are wrong. There is little reason to delay marketing your works just because you don’t have a copyright certificate in-hand. The Copyright Office problems only serve to delay, not eliminate, an author’s statutory benefits to registration. And most copyright rights don’t require registration at all (although enforcing them may). Read on or contact me for a free 20 minute consultation to learn more.
First Steps: Using Copyright to protect your work
According to copyright law, you are a creative artist.
For some of you, this isn’t news—you may already think of yourself as an artist of some sort, maybe a copywriter, a photographer, or a graphic designer. Some of you even make a living from your work. But copyright law doesn’t care; it treats the crayon scribblings of my 2-year old exactly the same as the latest David Hockney painting. If you write a blog, sketch on a napkin, take a vacation snapshot, or author some Javascript code then you’re covered under the law.
Of course, nobody’s going to confuse my son’s drawings with a Hockney (he’s more of a Pollack), but copyright law leaves it to the marketplace to determine the relative value of creative works. The law itself grants equal protection to all creations, from a short video captured on a cell phone to the latest Steven Speilberg film, or from a simple blog post to the next J.K. Rowling novel.
If you already think of yourself as an artist, you may have a rough concept about what rights you get under copyright law (although you probably haven’t looked much at specifics). But even if you don’t directly profit from your work, you should still learn what rights you are afforded under the law.