Preregistering copyright question...

datahead8888

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I'm working on a video game loosely based on a book I'm writing. I'm going to be hiring other people to do work on the game, so I went ahead and preregistered copyright on the game, due to the collaborative nature. Note that preregistration is different than registration.

It's likely I'll need to send portions of the book to artists in order to draw artwork in the game. I have also considered hiring an artist for cover art and illustrations for the book. I was thinking if I should thus preregister copyright on the book as well.

Setting aside the question of whether infringement is likely in the first place, do [major] book publishers have any problem with your book having copyright preregistered beforehand, or do they only want copyright applications to be in their name or done through them? I was just thinking if it could cause any issues down the line or not in getting a book accepted and published.
 

Old Hack

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Don't register copyright on a book if you're hoping to sell it to a trade publisher. It causes confusion; and the published version is likely to be so different to the version you register copyright on that it will only have to be done again.
 

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The copyright is only effective if someone pirates your work in its entirety without changing anything, and that is unlikely unless it's already published.

If they do edit or change the work to call their own, it's plagiarism, and handled differently in court.
 

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The copyright is only effective if someone pirates your work in its entirety without changing anything, and that is unlikely unless it's already published.

If they do edit or change the work to call their own, it's plagiarism, and handled differently in court.

This is not accurate. Plagiarism is not a crime; copyright violation is. Plagiarism is governed by intellectual property statutes in nations who signed the Berne Convention agreement.

Registering copyright for an unfinished work, particularly one that you plan to trade publish, means that you will have to re-register copyright. It's kind of a PITA.

You have copyright from the minute you start creating the work in tangible form (writing it down, for instance).

What registering does is assist the court with determining penalties if you sue for copyright violation and win. Registering isn't going to deter a crook.

If you're considering working with other creatives or producing derivative works, you should consult an IP attorney, particularly regarding any collaboration.
 

datahead8888

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I did consult a lawyer about hiring people on the game, and he drafted an independent contractor agreement for me. He had suggested preregistering copyright on the game because infringement is more likely when you are collaborating on a project. I don't remember him saying to preregister the book on which the game is based, but I realized I may need to send book samples to people working on the game. I may go ahead and pay the lawyer for another consultation on the preregistration question. The question here, though, is whether book publishers care, since I'm not sure an IP attorney will know the publishing industry as well.

Don't register copyright on a book if you're hoping to sell it to a trade publisher. It causes confusion; and the published version is likely to be so different to the version you register copyright on that it will only have to be done again.

What kind of confusion or end problems might it cause with a publisher?
Preregistration means that regular registration will still need to be done later, regardless.
 
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