Do you Copywrite your articles?

You don't have to copyright your material because it's automatic under the law that once it's published under your name or pseudonym, it belongs to you. I have never copyrighted anything I've written and only once did anyone try to steal it. It only took an email from me to change their mind.

First of all the term is copyright, the right to make copies of your original work. Copy write, two words, is the writing of commercial copy. You have probably done this when you ghost wrote some paragraphs for someone, and you worked as a copywriter (one word). The legalities are that when you produce an original work, you own the copyright whether you register it or add a copyright mark © or any other indication that it is copyrighted. It is assumed that something is copyrighted unless there is specific instructions to the contrary. Unfortunately on the internet and amongst the newer generations, they assume it is the opposite, and freely copy everything and get indignant when told it is stealing. The problem comes in when you have to establish authorship. As you know registering it will establish your authorship. I read an article that a person would gather all his photos, pages and pages of these, and register them all at once. This saved a lot of expense as cost to do a collection or a single photo is the same. I would suggest you gather a bunch of your stuff together and do this. You could register it as a collected work. Another woman that had an important website registered copyright of all her text and photographs and sure enough several people stole her works. She of course had legal recourse and got everything plagerized from her removed. Here is what to do if you find someone has lifted your material. http://www.copyscape.com/?example=1 Copyscape provides 5 free searches per month by the way. I will see if I can find a reference article that I saved on copyright. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/copyright I cannot find it, but I did find the above which you should read. What registered does is give you legal clout when you are suing for damages. If someone steals you work and they make no money from it tends to be a waste of time going to court. There is a lot more to copyright than I can present here. Maybe I should do a Lens or Associated Content article on it, and hope someone does not steal it.

45$? really? I thought intellectual property is copyrighted immediately when written, without the need to do anything else.

That is terrible about your poem. I can't believe the woman then had the nerve to challenge you about it! I don't think I would put anything creative (fiction or poetry) on the web, personally. I know lots of people do. Perhaps if you feel that you really need to copyright your material, you can submit a group of stories together, every 6 months or year, depending on how prolific you are. Or maybe you can self-publish them (thereby getting a copyright) until you are ready to offer them to a real publisher. The Internet is a double edged sword. There are many good things about it: sharing information, getting in contact with other writers, etc., but then there is the flip side, where people show their absolute worst behavior! It's a shame. Good luck with your writing. I hope you will eventually post what you've decided to do.

I heard if you put the copyright symbol on your article or story, that marks you as an amateur. It is copyrighted automatically once it is in print. There is also the poor man's way of making sure your work is not stolen by mailing back a manuscript in an unopened envelope that I heard works. I suppose you would have to put it in a safety deposit box or give it to a lawyer who could confirm that it is your name and address and your hand writing and the date would say so. I never thought of doing that, as I am a cheap - I mean a careful person when it comes to money, not even the mailing back the article.

Hello, byfaithonly. I do not have many articles nor anything like that to copyright, but I confess I'd really love to start writing. The real problem when I start to write is the idea that, as soon as I put it on the web, it will not be MINE anymore. It will start belonging to the world, and I will lose my creation. I don't know how can I copyright simple material, like small texts and poems. You say it costs U$45.00. Indeed, it is not cheap and I do not have that money. But, for that, I'd be willing to work a few months here in myLot and pay for it, assuring that what I write will definitely be mine. Respectfully, Munhozmib.

Personally I have always wondered this as well. I know I would hate to put something somewhere and then see someone else post it somewhere else knowing that they made $$ off of it as well. I would think there would be more ways for us to get copywrite without having to pay out a lot if money for sure. Very good question.

I always understood that everything was automatically copyrighted to the author, however when writing articles for sites like Helium or Associated Content, you will need to check their terms and conditions to see if you are transferring your copyright to them if they agree to publish it. One way of proving copyright is to deposit a copy with your bank or solicitor, signed and dated by them. It is unfortunate that in this day and age that people do copy things which are available on the internet. I would quite like to write some stories for publication, but I don't know of any sites which pay U.K. authors, I don't think either Helium or Associated Conted pay in the U.K.

I confess I don't really know the answer to your question, but I am quite curious to read this whole discussion so I decided to come in an post a response just to tell you that I think that copywriting one's work is a very good decision. Just hope that you can find an option that you will be able to use without the higher cost.

You do own the copyright to all your writing. What you may not have is full rights. When you register at Helium you agree to giving them non-exclusive rights to articles you publish on that site. If you sell an article in the Marketplace, that is different because you agree to give exclusive rights to the purchaser, and you cannot publish it anywhere else. Some sites require first publishing rights, and then you can republish your own work or allow it to appear on another site. Some sites require you to give them full rights to your work, so you cannot offer it to anyone else. You need to check and understand the rights you agree to, whenever you register at a writing site, before you submit your work there. Otherwise you may find you no longer own rights to something you wrote. A print publisher may reject any work that is not exclusive and has already been published on the internet.

I do copyright all my articles and it is priceless and being copied is so unfair because that us written by me and not others.When others take it and they get the credit instead of you that make me feel so pist and angry.It is so unfair to see them easily gets everything while we do all the work..

i dont do copyright since where in the internet world all works and articles are easy to be copied and paste..so i think it is not necessary..

Once you write something it is already copy righted material. You immediately own the copy right. You should begin marking each as (C) by you and the date. Then you need to register the material. To save money, put them in a collection and copyright it as a "work" that way all of the contents are copyrighted under that title, but the copy right is then registered with the library of conress.

That is horrible about your poem... I am a writer just have never published anything... When I was in school I wrote a childrens' book and would have won the Young Authors Award but I did not have the book completed at the time... I have always wanted to find an artist to do pictures that went along with my stories but I have not met the right person yet... Copywriting your written material would be a good idea.. The if someone takes your ideas again, and publishes them, you would be able to get paid for your thought and ideas... instead of sit there in disbelif that someone else is getting paid for your idea...

I confess I don't really know the answer to your question, but I am quite curious to read this whole discussion so I decided to come in an post a response just to tell you that I think that copywriting one's work is a very good decision. Just hope that you can find an option that you will be able to use without the higher cost.

hello friend, pm me and I will tell you a little secret. I notice that noone else has offered this piece of advice. Been reading a few of your comments over here. Anyhow just pm me and ask me on the pm, what's the secret in reference to copy writing. Wouldn't want to expose it all up here on the internet, as somebody might want to steal it. Just been here visiting your page and I'm really enjoying everything and learning a lot. Hope to hear from you soon. PS: If I were that lady who stole your poem I would be so ashamed of myself. I hope that she will not be able to sleep well at night, knowing what she did was wrong. Makes me wonder what is this world coming t?