Copyright laws for Comic Book Scripts

[Ghost314]

Could anyone direct me to where I might find a good site describing procedure in copyrighting a comic book script. I have one at the moment but I am unsure if I want to post it on the net right now in case someone tries to steal it from me.

[Eddie G.]

Could anyone direct me to where I might find a good site describing procedure in copyrighting a comic book script. I have one at the moment but I am unsure if I want to post it on the net right now in case someone tries to steal it from me.

Just do poor man's copyright, take your script a newspaper and take photos of yourself holding the script. Place the photos in with the script and newspaper and mail it to yourself but don't open it.

[Cyporiean]

That won't stand up in a court of law.


A copyright is like $30, Do a lookup on Google

[Lorendiac]

My understanding is that as a general rule, if you wrote it, you own it. It is automatically copyrighted. You can post it on the net without specifically saying "Copyright 2004 by [insert real name here]" and it is still copyrighted as of now, by you.

However, if you wrote it about characters whose copyright is already owned by someone else (such as Superman and Batman), then under U.S. law as it now stands, you don't own the copyright to your script after all, because you're piggybacking off someone else's characters.

If you go to http://www.copyright.gov/register/ you will find that the U.S. government is basically saying, "You can register your copyright with us if it will make you feel better, but registration is not necessary to have a copyright in the first place." If you click on the "Literary Works" link you will find that the fee for such registration is $30.00. That must be what Galvatron was remembering.

Another website I like for covering the bare basics is:
10 Big Myths about copyright explained - http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
which links to several other useful resources for understanding the essentials of copyright law.