The Copyright Handbook: How To Protect & Use Written Works (Copyright Handbook)
- Book Review,
by Stephen Fishman
Amazon.com
Copyright law is a complex field, and it's crucial for writers to understand what's entailed. Stephen Fishman covers what a copyright is, how it's created and protected, limitations and transfer of ownership, how long it lasts, and what copyright infringement is all about. There are chapters on copyright registration, copyright notice, and how to deal with errors or omissions. Fishman also wades into the issues of derivative works and compilations, works for hire, and jointly authored works. He also tackles the confusion of copyrights in the online world of electronic publishing; the book is worth its price for this chapter alone. The appendix contains a variety of sample forms and blank forms and a PC-formatted disk of the same material.
Business Life
For anyone who creates written works...The Copyright Handbook is as essential as a dictionary.
Authorship
Explains the ins and outs of copyright law in plain English and provides all the forms and step-by-step instructions
Writer’s Market
A thorough (and thoroughly enjoyable) discussion of the subject of copyright law as it applies to writers.
Book Description
Ignorance is not bliss in the information age. If you create original works, you must understand copyright law or risk becoming a skid mark on the information superhighway. The Copyright Handbook provides you with all the information and forms you'll need to protect all types of creative expression under U.S. and international copyright law. Written in plain English, this must-have handbook tells you everything you need to know about: *how to register a written work with the copyright office *what works can be protected *when and how to use a copyright notice *copyright protection for works for hire, adaptations, new editions, electronic mail, literary works and periodicals, and compilations (databases and catalogs) *rights and duration of ownership *transfer of copyright ownership *what constitutes infringement and how to avoid it *how to recognize an adapted or recast work *fair use: when and how copyrighted material can be used *electronic publishing rights *registration of multimedia works and multimedia rights *how to protect written works on the Internet The 8th edition of The Copyright Handbook is completely updated to provide the latest case law, copyright registration forms and copyright regulations. It also provides a new section on permissions and releases. All forms are included as tear-outs and on CD-ROM.
About the Author
Stephen Fishman received his law degree from the University of Southern California in 1979. After stints in government and private practice, he became a full-time legal writer in 1983. He has helped write and edit over a dozen reference books for attorneys. He is the author of Software Development: A Legal Guide, Copyright Your Software, The Copyright Handbook, Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements, Wage Slave No More: Law & Taxes for the Self-Employed, and Hiring Independent Contractors: The Employer's Legal Guide, all published by Nolo.
Excerpted from The Copyright Handbook: How To Protect & Use Written Works (Copyright Handbook) by Stephen Fishman. Copyright © 2005. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction Here's a book about copyright for written works. It is for the entire universe of people who deal with the written word. Who This Book Is For Novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, biographers, historians, authors of how-to books, writers of scientific and technical works and other works of nonfiction, published and unpublished authors, journalists, freelance writers, persons employed by others to create written works, persons who employ others to create written works, editors who work for magazines and book publishers, established publishers, self-publishers, librarians, teachers, and literary agents. How This Book Is Organized This book has two parts: Part I (Chapters 2-4) consists of a short overview of copyright law (Chapter 2, Copyright Basics), and a "how-to" guide on copyright notice and registration with the Copyright Office. Part II (Chapters 5-16) serves as your copyright resource; it discusses the most important aspects of copyright law in detail. If you are unable to find the answers to your questions in Part II, the final chapter (Chapter 17, Help Beyond This Book) tells you how to do further research on your own and, if necessary, find a copyright attorney. Which Parts of This Book You Should Read Not everyone will want to read the whole book. Which parts you do want to read will of course depend on why you bought the book. Most of you bought the book for one of these three reasons: You want to know how to satisfy the procedural requirements to obtain maximum copyright protection for a written work. You have a specific copyright question or problem. You want a general education about copyright law. Assuming you fall into one of these three categories, here is how you can make best use of this book. 1. Readers Who Want to Know How to Satisfy the Procedural Requirements for Maximum Copyright Protection If you just want to know how to place a valid copyright notice on your work (that's the © followed by a date and name you usually see on published works), read Chapter 3, Copyright Notice. Placing a valid copyright notice on your work will make it easier to enforce your copyright. If you want to register your work with the Copyright Office, refer to Chapter 4, Copyright Registration, for a step-by-step explanation. You'll find all the registration forms you need on the CD-ROM at the end of the book. You will obtain important benefits by registering your work after it is published. 2. Readers Who Have a Specific Copyright Question If you have a specific question or problem, start with the table of contents at the front of the book. For example, suppose you want to know whether you need permission to use a quotation from Abraham Lincoln that you found in a recent Civil War history. By scanning the table of contents you would discover Chapter 11, Using Other Authors' Words - probably the place to start. And by examining the section headings under Chapter 11, you would find that Section A is the place to start reading. If you didn't find what you were looking for in the table of contents, you could use the index at the back of the book and search under such terms as "quotations" and "public domain." 3. People Who Want to Learn All About Copyright If you simply want to learn more about copyright, read Chapter 2, Copyright Basics, and then read as much of Chapters 5 through 16 as you wish. You can skip Chapters 3 and 4, since these chapters are intended for people who want to take specific steps to obtain maximum copyright protection for a written work. What This Book Is Not About This book only covers copyright for written works. This means it is not about: copyright protection for music, artwork, photography, or audiovisual works; for a detailed discussion of legal protection for music, see Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business, by Richard Stim (Nolo). publishing contracts -- although we discuss the copyright aspects of publishing contracts, this is not a book about how to negotiate or draft contracts protecting inventions -- see Patent It Yourself, by David Pressman (Nolo), if you want to know about this protecting computer software -- see Copyright Your Software and Web & Software Development: A Legal Guide, both by Stephen Fishman (Nolo), if you want to know about this protecting titles, logos, or slogans -- these items may be protected under the federal and state trademark laws, which have nothing to do with copyright; see Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business & Product Name, by Stephen Elias (Nolo). protecting ideas -- copyright only protects words, not ideas. Ideas can be protected as trade secrets, which involves committing anyone who learns of the ideas to secrecy and maintaining security procedures to prevent the ideas from leaking out. For a detailed discussion of idea protection, see Nondisclosure Agreements: Protect Your Trade Secrets & More, by Richard Stim and Stephen Fishman (Nolo).
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