A LOOK AT COPYRIGHTS
With So Much Attention Paid to Patents, Inventors Often Miss This Valuable and Inexpensive Form of Protection.
By Ken Tarlow
Does your work qualify for copyright protection? If so, you can take advantage of this important form of protection. Copyright literally means that the owner is the only one who has the "right to copy" or authorize copy of his own work.
All unpublished work is protected under common laws from the moment of its creation, but his protection ends when the work is published. It can then be given the protection of a statutory copyright by publishing it with a copyright notice.
The Copyright is a "Bundle of Rights" implicit in the Constitution, Article I, Section 8:
"...securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."
The Copyright Law was greatly revised and approved by Congress in 1976 to become effective on January 1, 1978. The new law includes exceptions to the exclusivity provision with new provisions for some compulsory licensing.
Further, it changed the duration of the U.S. Copyright to the authors life plus 50 years, in lieu of the former 28 years and renewable for 28 years.
Let's briefly examine the copyright concept "Works of Authorship" which must contain at least some intellectual effort and originality. It cannot be copied from works of others. There are seven categories of work that can be copyrighted:
1. Literary Works--Such works are those "other than audio visual works, expressed in words, numbers or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonographic records, films, tapes, discs, or cards, in which they are embodied."2. Musical Works--This includes any accompanying words.
3. Dramatic Works--Drama is covered by copyright, along with any accompanying music.
4. Pantomime and Choreographic Works--These would include a detailed description of movement.
5. Pictorial, Graphic and Sculptural Works--Includes "Tw -dimensional and three- dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art, photographs, prints and art reproductions, maps, globes, charts, technical drawings, diagrams and models--insofar as their form but not their mechanical or utilitarian aspects are concerned."
6. Motion Pictures or Other Audio Visual Works--Motion pictures are defined as "Audio visual works consisting of a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any." Audio visual works are "Works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewers, electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as films, or tapes, in which the works are embodied."
7. Sound Recordings--This category covers "works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audio visual work, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as discs, tapes, or other phonographic records, in which they're embodied."
There is another class of materials that is EXCLUDED from copyright (but may qualify for protection under patent or trademark. This class includes ideas, plans, methods, systems, inventions, computing and measuring devices, names, titles, short phrases and expressions, general ideas or outlines for radio and television programs, blank forms, slogans and phrases.
It's necessary that your copyright be recorded in the Library of Congress before you institute suit for infringement. It's no longer critical to have a Copyright notice on your work, if omitted in error (within certain limits). It can be corrected within five years, however, it is not wise to take chances which can be so simply avoided. Put the copyright notice on everything you publish. It is simply:
• © , "Copyright" or "Copr."• Year of first publication
• Name of the "owner of the copyright" in the work
• "All Rights Reserved" may be added
The location of the notice is not specified but is usually in front of most publications.
To register the copyright, request forms from
The Register of Copyrights Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20559
Mail a copy of the original work, a copyright form and a check to the "Copyright Office" for $20.
That's right! Copyright is not only an important form of protection. It's also a bargain!
Ken Tarlow is president of Tarlow Design, a full-service product development company that helps independent inventors design, prototype, patent and license consumer product ideas. He has developed more than 300 consumer products worth over one billion dollars in retail sales. Tarlow's office is in San Rafael, CA. He may be reached at (415) 457-6428.
The above article was excerpted from Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a cassette tape/workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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