Already copyrighted?

Tolstoyce said:

Hi, I've come across a few threads about copyright (namely this one and this one). Both of them gave a lot of information about why you shouldn't copyright, but not what to do if you already have. When I finished my first novel (in 2009, before I knew anything about the process of getting an agent/publisher), I immediately had my work copyrighted just to be safe. Imagine my horror when I discovered this was the wrong thing to do.

What should I do about this? I could just not tell an agent it's copyrighted when sending in a manuscript, but I feel like that's dishonest. Is there any way to remove copyright? Have I screwed myself over?

Thanks!

P.S. Sorry if I was supposed to ask about this in one of the threads I linked. I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread, since this is a slightly different topic, or just ask in one of those threads (I'm new here).

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Tolstoyce said:

Okay, thank you so much for the feedback. I was just worried, but I'm glad it's fixable.

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heatherm8119 said:

Hi,

I have some background in Entertainment Law, you should ALWAYS secure the © to protect your work first before making available for other individuals to view...when signing with an agent or publisher, they may want you to enter into agreements, such as exclusivity,etc. Securing the ©, is in YOUR best interest as the writer!!!

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heatherm8119 said:

I have some background in Entertainment Law, you should ALWAYS secure the © to protect your work first before making available for other individuals to view...when signing with an agent or publisher, they may want you to enter into agreements, such as exclusivity,etc. Securing the ©, is in YOUR best interest as the writer!!!

Click to expand...

heatherm8119 said:

Hi,

I have some background in Entertainment Law, you should ALWAYS secure the © to protect your work first before making available for other individuals to view...when signing with an agent or publisher, they may want you to enter into agreements, such as exclusivity,etc. Securing the ©, is in YOUR best interest as the writer!!!

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• Uppercasing "Entertainment Law" makes you look less than literate.
• Attorneys are abjured from asserting specilaization in fields that are not on a very narrow list. It's an ethics violation. Entertainment law is a very very narrow field, and doesn't really have much cross over with IP.
• The phrase "Securing the ©" suggests you don't actually have a clue. You don't "secure copyright" when you're the creator ab initio. You have copyright. "Securing copyright" is what you do when you're not the creator and you're purchasing all rights from a creator who produced work for hire.
• "Entering into agreements such as exclusivity" has very little to do with copyright, and a fair number of agents and editors will stop reading the minute they see an assertion of copyright. One reason is that it's insulting; another reason is that at that stage, it suggests that the person is at best an amateur.
• Registering copyright does give you larger damages if the case goes to court. But you still have to go to court, and the damages will be based on the commercial value of the work, which in most cases, because it's an unpublished work, there's really not a lot of value. The value resides in publication. To go to court you're still going to have to pay attorneys. A law firm can rack up 10K in the research stage, before the case ever goes to court.
• In the U.S. registering a script with WGA is far more effective than registering copyright.

Medievalist said:

I've worked for editors and publishers who instructed us to ditch any ms. with a copyright declaration.

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heatherm8119 said:

Securing the ©, is in YOUR best interest as the writer!!!

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