Do You Need To Register Your Copyright?

10:23 AM Elizabeth Seckman 36 Comments

Hey, sweet babies are always fun. Eric and daughter, Alexis

I'm turning the blog over to Mr. Eric Johnston. Eric started a blog site and he's looking to meet other bloggers. You can join him at Eric R. Johnston.

 He's an editor and writer at World Castle Publishing, and since I've been at WC, he's been super helpful (he's the editor behind "Past Due") and always willing to answer questions. So, I asked him...

Does a writer need to register their copyright? 

Technically, no.

According to the United States Copyright Office, “Copyright exists from the moment the work is created,” whether you register or not.

But let’s look at a scenario to explain why you should.

 Ryan just published his first novel, and he’s ecstatic. He’s getting okay sales, but hopes he can do better. His book is enrolled in Amazon’s KDP program, which allows for five days of free kindle downloads to help him build a wider audience, and maybe to hook a few readers who were on the fence about shelling out five or six dollars on a new author. Then, after mediocre sales, he decides to google his name and his book title to see if maybe he can find evidence of an internet fan-base. Maybe there are some reviews out there, maybe some websites dedicated to the great Ryan, the next Stephen King. He knows there were many copies of his book downloaded for free from Amazon, and he hopes to get some sort of feedback.

 Instead of reviews, he finds website after website after website—websites in the hundreds, in the thousands even—giving his book away for free. Now, Ryan thinks, “I authorized Amazon to give away my book for free for the period of five days. I didn’t authorize this.” He’s frustrated. He feels like his work was stolen from him. People are downloading and reading his book, not paying him, and he has no control over it.

There’s nothing he can do.

Or is there?

This is where we get into the area of copyright law.

A work, as soon as it is committed to paper, is under copyright. Ryan owns the copyright to his work as the author. Meaning, essentially, that he owns the execution to the particular idea. To be clear, he doesn’t own the idea itself. He has a story about a scientist who builds a time machine to travel to the past, but instead gets hopelessly lost in a post-apocalyptic world of the future. The idea sounds somewhat like H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, but the execution of it is purely his own. But does he really own the copyright? He doesn’t have any documents saying so. If he were to take the owners of these pirate sites to court, he knows he has the burden of proof. Meaning, he has a to prove his case. The pirates don’t have to prove anything—innocent until proven guilty, and all that jazz. He can’t just say these pirates do not have authority to give away his book unless he can prove it. Alas, even though he owns the rights to the work, and someone is clearly stealing it, he does not have a case.

 Luckily, there is an option. Since he published the work less than five years ago, he can register the copyright, and this will be satisfactory proof of ownership, even if he didn’t register until after he discovered the crime. So how does one obtain proof of copyright? This is important for any self-published author or any author whose publisher does not register the copyright for them. The easiest and cheapest way to register your copyright is to go to www.copyright.gov. It costs only $35, and allows you to sue for damages and legal fees. It’s definitely a worthwhile investment. The forms are right on the website, and they walk you through it step-by-step.

Thanks Eric!
Questions?