Small publishers, on the other hand, need to acquire material both quickly and cheaply in order to stay afloat in an increasingly dynamic market. They need articles and materials they can acquire on short notice, sometimes as filler and sometimes as feature pieces, and it is no surprise that they frequently require copyright free articles to fill these needs. Copyright free articles free publishers from negotiating difficult contracts or sticky rights agreements, and allow them to focus on getting their material out and seen by their audiences as quickly and efficiently as possible.

There is of course, a middle ground pertaining to copyright free articles. Content provider websites often pay writers a small commission to create short articles, with all rights waived upon payment for the piece. The writer makes some money, the client gets their copyright free articles. This arrangement is more beneficial to the publisher looking for some inexpensive content, as the articles they acquire can be used and reused in a number of locations without repeatedly coming back to the original author.

However, there are benefits in copyright free articles for the writer as well. They gain experience writing, earn some money relatively quickly, and often become experts in SEO writing very quickly. Copyright free articles may not always be the solution, but they are a place to start.

Hiring Copyright Registration Experts

Instead of taking any chances, many people decide to hire copyright registration experts. These lawyers are familiar with the copyright registration process that applies to many different types of works, products, and processes. That means you can rely on them to fill out the paper work for you correctly so that you do not have to worry about a small mistake jeopardizing months or years of your work.

Is Copyright Registration Necessary?

Some people believe that copyright registration is unnecessary. After all, copyright law protects works in progress as well as those that have been completed. For instance, if someone steals a song that they heard you play at a show, then the law protects you from infringement.

The problem, though, is that you have to prove you own the copyright to the work. Copyright registration provides an unprecedented level of proof.

Hiring a Law Firm for Your Copyright Registration

If you choose to hire an attorney or law firm for your copyright registration, then you might also get other legal services that could come in handy. For instance, if someone steals your ideas, then you will already have a knowledgeable lawyer to defend your intellectual property rights in court.

Likewise, if someone tries to claim that you stole their idea, then you will have defense from a lawyer that was directly involved in your copyright registration process. The more lawyers of protection you can add, the more likely it is that the copyright will serve you well.

The method known as the poor man’s copyright is not actually recommended by either the US or UK courts, and there is no published mention of it on the books in the US courts. However, it can be effective.

The way it works is that you simply mail yourself a copy of your work, be it a blueprint, a manuscript, etcetera, and leave the work in a sealed envelope until a time comes when you need to establish copyright.

This is seen as something of a makeshift copyright method, and might not always hold up in court, but can be helpful in some instances.

By sending yourself your work through registered mail, a date is established on the postmark. Say you mail yourself a manuscript in June, and then mail it to a publisher in July. The publisher decides to swipe your book and publish it without paying you, registering their own copyright on it a month after you’ve received your own poor man’s copyright in the mail. What you have now is proof that you had something to do with the book a month before a copyright was ever registered.

Again, this isn’t a fool-proof method, however, it can be helpful when you need to copyright in large volume, or right away, and do not have time or money to apply for an official copyright. For example, many musicians may create hundreds of new songs a year, and then send those songs out to various record labels and other musicians and so on. If the musician wants to protect himself, he can either register each song as they are created, probably spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year, or he can by some stamps and envelopes and send himself CDs or sheet music.

The main weak spot with the poor man’s copyright is that the property has not actually been officially approved for a copyright. An official copyright application requires a work that to be not completely derivative, or that any similarities with another work are purely coincidental, and so on. Each country has different tests to put the work through before granting a copyright, and the by-mail method bypasses these tests, meaning that the copyright is a little weaker in a court of law.

A few things to remember if you are considering Poor Man’s Copyrighting:

Do Not Open

When you receive your package back through the mail, do not open it. It’s the postmark on the envelope or box that proves that you were the owner of a given work long before another part put out their own version of it, and if you unseal the envelope, you compromise the court’s ability to prove that this was your intellectual property. An open envelope, you can literally stuff just about anything into it. You could take an envelope from fifty years ago, put a Garfield comic strip in it, and say you invented Garfield. So no, unsealed envelopes do not hold up in court.

It’s Sort of a Temporary Fix

Again, because of the application process and so on, the poor man’s copyright doesn’t always hold up, and the UK courts actually recommend against it. When you don’t have a lot of options, it is better than nothing, but it’s a little like fixing a leak in your gas tank with a piece of bubble gum. It’s better than ignoring it, but it’s not as good as protecting yourself properly.

It Won’t Hold Up Against a Previously Registered Copyright

Say you write a novel, and a friend of yours reads it, then swipes a manuscript and sells it to a book publisher. Unfortunately, either your (former) friend or the publisher owns the copyright now. You can’t even go out and register the copyright in your name anymore, and it will probably require a lot of legal research and action before you can even think about getting your intellectual property back.

Protect Yourself, Now

Either with poor man’s copyright, or going through the proper channels, protect your intellectual property right now. If you’re writing a screenplay for example, copyright it as soon as you have a draft that you are willing to let other people read. You just never really know who might take an idea and pass it off as their own, and more often than not, once some intellectual property has been wrongly appropriated, it’s hard or even impossible to get it back into the hands where it belongs.

Are Copyright Lawyers Necessary?

Many courts have upheld copyrights of finished and incomplete works as long as an individual or corporation can prove that they created the work before someone else. Some people accomplish this without hiring a copyright lawyer. They might, for instance, send a copy of a play to themselves in the mail so that it has an official date stamped on it. Or they might have a notary public sign and date a copy of the work so courts will know when the author created it.

This works in some cases, but those who are serious about protecting their intellectual property should consider hiring copyright lawyers. Copyright law is difficult for many laymen to understand. Even the U.S. court system finds it difficult to rule on some cases.

Finding Copyright Lawyers with Experience

Since there are so many gray areas in copyright law, it is best to hire a copyright lawyer who has significant experience in the field. Most of the cases are brought to civil court, where a copyright lawyer might have the chance to argue your case in front of a judge or committee. In this type of situation, experience is a lawyer’s best asset.

You can determine how much experience a copyright lawyer has by asking her or him how long they have been practicing intellectual property law. You should also ask the copyright lawyers how many of their cases they win so you will know how successful they are.

Picking a Copyright Lawyer with Experience in your Field

Consider spending some time looking for a copyright lawyer that has significant experience in your field. If you are a musician, then you should look for a copyright lawyer that has represented music companies and musicians. If you have written a book, then you should seek the services of a copyright lawyer that knows the ins and outs of copyright laws that apply to books. Finding a specialist can only improve your chances of protecting your rights.

Choosing a Copyright Lawyer with Good References

After you have found several copyright lawyers with years of experience, a concentration in law that pertains to your field, and a good track record, you can make a short list to choose from. Contact the copyright lawyers on your short list and ask them to give you references. These references will make it easy for you to talk to their other clients. You can often get the best information from other professionals who have used the copyright lawyer’s services. A good reference from a professional music producer, for instance, should typically have more influence on your decision than a part-time musician with self-published material.

In section 102 of the Act, copyright protection is available for “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” The key change from the prior law is that works no longer have to be published to enjoy copyright protection, and one need not affix the copyright mark (the “circle C”) to one’s work to trigger federal protection. Previous controlling law condemned original works to the public domain if the notice of copyright was not properly included. State copyright protections were made all but superfluous by the federal revisions passed by Congress in 1976.

The 1976 revision granted five (5) exclusive rights to copyright holders: the right to reproduce (copy), the right to create derivative works from the original, the right to commercialize the work, the right to perform the work publicly (if relevant), and the right to display the work publicly (if relevant). In 1995 the right to perform a sound recording by means of digital audio was added.

The doctrine of fair use was finally codified in the 1976 revision of the Copyright Act. Common law, which was well settled on fair use, was finally made black letter law. Section 106 denotes that the doctrine explicitly applies to any use of copyrighted work for news reporting, criticism, research, scholarship or teaching. Despite this definitive list, the fair use defense is not exclusively limited to just these activities. The Act provides a four prong factor test to determine whether fair use has occurred:

1) the purpose and character of the use (for instance, whether it is commercial or educational);
2) the nature of the copyrighted work (how creative is the work);
3) the amount and substantiality of the portion of the original work used; and,
4) the effect of the use upon the original work in the market (or potential market). Like copyright protection generally in 1976, the fair use defense was later extended to unpublished works as well.

The previous term of protection for copyrighted works was greatly expanded by the 1976 revision. Before, copyright protection existed for a term of 28 years, with an optional extension of an additional 28 years. Thus, your total protection for copyrighted works was capped at 56 years. As of the 1976 revisions, protections were granted to the originator of the work for his life plus fifty years. A flat 75 year term was enacted for anonymous or pseudonymous works, and works made for hire. More copyright protections were added by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act in 1998. Protection now extends to 70 years after the originator’s death, and 95 years for works made for hire.

Copyright transfers were greatly clarified by the 1976 revision of the Copyright Act. The courts had muddied the presumption that the transfer of a copy of a work carried with it the presumption that the creative rights were transferred as well. That is now definitively not the case. Section 204 of the 1976 revision fully details the procedure for transferring ownership of a copyrighted work. A copyright holder must sign a written statement of conveyance expressly transferring his or her ownership of the copyright to the recipient. Otherwise, there has been no transfer of the original work to the recipient.

Under the Act, one does not have to register your work with the Copyright Office in order to enjoy copyright protection; however, an action for infringement cannot be pursued until one registers with the Copyright Office, a process that can take up to six months. To register one’s work, the Act requires one copy and the requisite fees be deposited with the Office. Two copies are required if the work is published.

The 1976 revision of the Copyright Act greatly simplified the law and expanded protections for original works. It is always good to find an attorney familiar with copyright law and the Act’s revisions if you are interested in protecting your original work.

”I make marketing materials for small businesses. I’d like to write a few articles about the positive side of using these materials for promoting your business but it seems all the articles are written already. How do I write an article without people thinking I ’stole’ the content from another author? Thanks, Kelli”

This is a great question that many of people face when they try to get into article marketing. The fact that people are writing on the topic is actually good news because, in this case, it means you have a business in a thriving industry. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t stand apart from the others.

Just like when you’re establishing your online presence and developing your product, you needed to determine what made you unique and set you apart from your competition. We call this your USP…or unique selling proposition. You can do the same with your articles.

It’s true that some or many of your ideas will have already been published in articles, but that’s because they are tried and true methods of promoting a business. Just because you have the same idea as someone else, does not mean than you copied them…and if you’re putting your ideas in your own words, there is no copyright violation. You also have your own voice and as you write more and more, you’ll develop that unique voice.

Still, I understand that you want true original content. One way to stand apart from other articles is to go the extra mile in explaining your points. Flesh out articles with concrete examples, case studies and other things that make it easier for your reader to really understand and apply the knowledge you’re providing.

I’ve written articles on plenty of subjects that have been written on thousands of times. I occasionally search article databases for ideas to incorporate into my articles, but mostly I just sit down and right from my own knowledge and experiences, creating a unique perspective on the subject. You’ll probably want to try the same.

As far as people thinking you “stole” their content, there are always people feel like that. They live in constant fear of someone taking something from them and in an almost paranoid way, they think everyone is copying them no matter what it is. This is minimalist thinking and don’t let yourself become a part of it. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but what’s important is what you do with those ideas. Rise above and write the best, most informative articles that you can.

The American Memory Project is a digital artifact section of the Library of Congress designed to make selected collections widely available in electronic form. This is the theme encouraged by many librarians today because the idea of cataloging and archiving the Internet has been a source of intrigue for years. The scope of this idea has been expanded in recent years to encompass vast areas of the Web. Not knowing what to do and how to do this on such a large scale has perplexed catalogers and librarians; and, as the years go by, greater concern arises for the information that can potentially become lost forever.

Even though it was understood from the beginning that it would be impossible to catalog everything on the Internet, it was agreed that much of the Internet’s resource bank should be cataloged. Unlike traditional library materials, the Internet’s Web page inventory grows in size at an incredible rate. A librarian’s job is to organize information for retrieval and use; but, certain matters exist that act as a barrier to typical cataloging practices. For one thing, the quality and stability of the information on the Internet is of a variable level.

A natural result of instability in the online environment is the desire for the digital material to be stored and archived. According to Michael Gorman, the beliefs of a few optimistic people are focused on the idea that governments and private companies will ensure the survival of the Internet’s digital records. He responds by writing that the cost and practicalities of such schemes boggle the mind and defy credulity. Funding, however, has been awarded in the amount of $100 million to the Library of Congress to generate a national digital strategy for preserving the country’s important materials of intellectual significance that happen to be in digital format.

Another example of Internet archiving comes from the U.K. Web Archiving Consortium. The group is archiving certain U.K. Web sites for the purpose of investigating the outcome. 6,000 sites were selected for their historical and cultural importance. Project manager Magnus Research aims to lengthen the average lifespan of Web sites from 44 days to about a century.

Along with all the programming and data management, hardware considerations are also necessary for long-term storage, which is solely for preserving the digital files. The viewer, reader, and player require just as much attention. File formats, hardware formats, and operating system platforms change with great regularity. Software companies have just recently begun to focus their attention on long-term preservation software. Hurdles reside not only on the physical side of the issue, but also on the legal side. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act has made it more difficult to legally copy digitized data. Because long-term preservation is expensive, and the growth of digitized information expands far from the resources needed to do the job, Internet archival access may be limited for an unknown period of time.

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