Copyright and its application in the virtual world is a confusing and frustrating problem. Let’s start with the basics: What is copyright?
Copyright, in international terms, is intellectual property that can be bought and sold. You can even pass on copyright to your heirs in a will.
When a writer creates a work, copyright is instantaneous – the writer immediately holds all copyrights to the work. A writer has the right to produce, reproduce, and publish a copyrighted text.
Copyright lasts the author’s lifetime plus 50 years. It’s automatic, it’s free, and you don’t need to register anything anywhere. You only have to be able to prove that you were the original creator of the work.
Freelance writers own full copyright to their work, unless they agree in writing to assign these rights to someone else or sell them.
Under Canadian copyright law, if there is no written agreement regarding assignation of copyright, the writer is granting the buyer first rights. First Canadian rights allow the buyer to publish the freelancer’s text in print once. Second rights allow the buyer to publish the text a second time.
Publication rights are the rights to publish a work in specific published form.
Electronic rights are the rights to publish a work for commercial use in electronic form. This would cover computers, CDs, a database, etc.
Moral rights exist and are something very important. Moral rights allow the creator of the work to claim authorship, regardless of who owns the copyright. Moral rights also permit the author to ensure that his or her work is not used in a manner that would harm the author’s reputation.
In the virtual world, it seems copyright is a joke and its application impossible. When someone steals your work, plagiarizes, or alters something you wrote, what can a freelance writer do?
You can sue the person infringing copyright, sure. Legal justice is your right. Can you track down the offender? Can you afford it? Most likely not. It’s sad and unfortunate, but copyright infringement happens every second of every day in the virtual world.
Regardless, know your copyright laws. Uphold them, maintain them, talk about them, and act as if you would apply legal justice if there is any abuse. Discuss copyright with buyers. It’s the least you can do.
Reference:
