Is including legal info required?

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Mark Moore

Mark Moore

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This might be a dumb question, but is including legal info in the document of the short story that you're self-publishing required? I'm asking, because I forgot to include any copyright notice or disclaimer that the characters aren't based on real people, etc., in my first story (or second...or third), and I'm needing to know if I should go back and include that stuff. Two or all of the sites that I'm uploaded to have asked me to acknowledge that the work isn't public domain, and I own the rights. Is this enough?

Also, I'm going to collect these stories eventually, so is adding legal info for each "single" needed?
 

J. Tanner

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The inclusion of a copyright notice is not required and offers no additional benefit (and appears to be no deterrent to pirates.) It's copyrighted by default.

I suspect the disclaimer that fiction is fiction offers no additional legal protection over the fact that it's theoretically fiction. I believe any legal challenge will be based solely on the words and context of the story and any disclaimer will be ignored. (IANAL!)

Having said that, there's no down side to including them, and it's sort of standard practice for most so throw them in if/when the opportunity presents.

PS. I think "Mech" is a trademarked term in regards to giant robots so if if you plan to use that word in the title or story you should look into the legality.
 
Mark Moore

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J. Tanner said:
PS. I think "Mech" is a trademarked term in regards to giant robots so if if you plan to use that word in the title or story you should look into the legality.
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Interesting. Thanks. I'll look into it.

This is just a working title anyway. I'm trying to think up a name for the actual device, hehe.

I thought "mech" and "mecha" were just generic descriptors when talking about giant robot anime. I've never seen those words capitalized.
 
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