Laws that Protect the Rights of Writers and Their Works

When you are a creator of any kind, it is important to know exactly how to protect your ideas and your work, and how the laws connected to these protections apply. Inventors apply for patents, and artists of any kind, including writers, get their work copyrighted. Copyrighting is the protection that applies to your words, preventing others from using them without your permission, and imposing a legal penalty if others use your work in their name.

The good news about copyright is that it happens automatically. Anything you write, from love notes to grocery lists are technically copyrighted, although you would probably get laughed out of court if you tried to sue someone for copying your grocery list. You do not have to draw a little c with a circle at the bottom of your page, or notify anyone, or pay anyone to have your work protected under copyright.

For some people, the concern that someone might steal your work, and then claim that you, not they, are violating copyright law is present, or you may wish to have the option to file a lawsuit for use of your work. If this is the case, you will want to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. That will help you protect your work in a public way, and will be eligible for statutory damages and legal fees in the case of successful litigation.

Some writers, though, do not feel the need to retain a copyright to their work. There are many writers, usually freelance, known as “ghost writers”, who write works for others, usually allowing the other person to list their own name as the author of the piece. In normal cases, this would be a violation of copyright law because the “author” is putting their name on a work that you created. This is made legal by selling the rights to the piece.

Different levels of rights can be sold. Use rights allow your work to be reproduced as long as it remains unchanged and your name remains on the piece. Master resell rights allow you to resell the piece that you buy from a writer, and to also sell the resale rights to others. This is a right that is sometimes included in Private Label Rights, or PLR. There is no one definition of PLR because the rights sold vary. Check the contract to be sure what rights you are getting.

In general, PLR may or may not include the rights to resell the piece, resell the resale rights, change the content, and claim the content as your own. In the freelance industry, most people will require full rights, meaning that you sell every right to your piece, including the copyright. In some cases you even lose the right to use the piece as a clip to show potential customers, so make sure that you read the contract carefully to be sure, and to ask questions if any terms do not make sense to you.

Please keep in mind that the “poor man’s copyright”, which means mailing your manuscript to yourself, is not legally sound and does not count as registration. The law is there to help protect you and your work so that you can continue to do what you love. Write on, secure in the knowledge that your work is protected, and learn to sell your work with a full understanding of the rights that you sell with it.