Intellectual Copyrights

[Caiaphas]

Hi. Me again.

Just one quick question: how do I go about getting an intellectual copyright? I've done a bit of research, but most of it tells me what they are rather than how to get one. Help? Please?

[Edward Yee]

You sure this is the right thread? Unless you mean for a story...

[Dave]

Hi. Me again.

Just one quick question: how do I go about getting an intellectual copyright? I've done a bit of research, but most of it tells me what they are rather than how to get one. Help? Please?

Under US Copyright law, anything is automatically copyrighted by you as soon as it is "fixed in a permanent medium", which is a very broad definition which includes napkin scribblings, back-of-the-envelope calculations, paper-and-pencil, pastel paintings, when your computer writes a document to the hard drive when you hit the save command, pictures your camera saves, video recordings -- hell, maybe even chalk-on-sidewalk impressions.

Ideally, this is enough to hold up in court against someone else, provided you can show that you did it before them and they copied you. You can gain a lot more weight, however, by registering your copyright with the US Copyright office. This puts it in the government's records, not just your own.

Assuming you are in the US. I am certainly not familiar with non-US law, though I think most countries are going to be similar.

Disclaimer: IANAL, I only took a business law class.

[LionElJonson]

Hi. Me again.

Just one quick question: how do I go about getting an intellectual copyright? I've done a bit of research, but most of it tells me what they are rather than how to get one. Help? Please?

Under US Copyright law, anything is automatically copyrighted by you as soon as it is "fixed in a permanent medium", which is a very broad definition which includes napkin scribblings, back-of-the-envelope calculations, paper-and-pencil, pastel paintings, when your computer writes a document to the hard drive when you hit the save command, pictures your camera saves, video recordings -- hell, maybe even chalk-on-sidewalk impressions.

Ideally, this is enough to hold up in court against someone else, provided you can show that you did it before them and they copied you. You can gain a lot more weight, however, by registering your copyright with the US Copyright office. This puts it in the government's records, not just your own.

Assuming you are in the US. I am certainly not familiar with non-US law, though I think most countries are going to be similar.

Disclaimer: IANAL, I only took a business law class.

You can also register them with the Library of Congress, IIRC.

[Caiaphas]

Thanks, you guys. I think that's all I'll need for now.

I've been meaning to ask: whats ||RC?

[Sea Skimmer]

IIRC is a common internet abbreviation for If I Recall Correctly.