Writers, new and established, need to understand copyright laws. Writers must have a clear understanding in order to protect their own creative endeavors, as well as to avoid violating someone else's copyrights. I've found it helpful also to be able to educate others' misconceptions about rights concerning works "published" online or in listservs.  
by Pam White
 
***While this article is to help writers understand copyright laws, it is not legal advice. Please visit the U.S. Copyright website for more information, and call an attorney when legal advice is needed.
 
Writers, new and established, need to understand copyright laws. Writers must have a clear understanding in order to protect their own creative endeavors, as well as to avoid violating someone else's copyrights. I've found it helpful also to be able to educate others' misconceptions about rights concerning works "published" online or in listservs.
 
Copyright laws go back to 1789 when the U.S. Constitution was written. Authors of creative works were protected in order to encourage the continuation and growth of creative arts. It's no different now. What you create is protected the minute you put it down on paper. You don't have to register it, add a copyright symbol (c) to it, or have it published. You don't have to package each essay up in an envelope and send it to yourself certified mail to prove when you created it.
 
That's the good news. And yet, the reality is that it's difficult to prove authorship in a court of law unless you've sent a copy to the U.S. Copyright Office, according to their requirements. And that is important. If you are sued, or you find your work has been used without permission, you need to have that proof. The law is that if you have registered your work with the U.S. Copyright office three months prior to taking legal action, you may receive attorney's fees as well
as statutory damages. In fact, you have to have your work registered before pursuing legal action against an infringement of your work.
 
What does this mean for you, practically speaking? You've decided to write an essay about the wonderful ways tofu helps ease the symptoms of menopause. You tell a writer friend. She
sends out a query letter to Woman's Day, has it accepted and gleefully shares this information while you are still interviewing dieticians and developing recipes. At this point, no laws have been broken. Why? There are things that cannot be copyrighted:
 
Works that are not in a fixed format, such as improvisational speeches on the wonders of tofu.
- Titles, names, short phrases, listings of ingredients or contents.
- Ideas, procedures, methods, concepts, principles.
- Works that are made up only of common information, such as calendars, tape measures, height and weight tables.
 
You, as author, cannot copyright any work that is considered a work for hire. If you were employed by a company and your job included developing recipes for the company (whether a magazine publisher or food manufacturer), the recipes are owned by the company, not you. Your employer can use them as originally planned for advertising then put them together in a cookbook, publish them online and allow other cookbook publishers to include any or all of the recipes in a separate
book.
 
If you have signed a contract assigning all rights to a publisher then you may not copyright that article, essay, recipe or group of recipes, or book manuscript. This means if you've sold an article to a magazine that requires a contract giving them all rights, you may not resell that article or include those recipes, as written, in a compilation or other articles.
 
Let's go back to the example. You are flipping through a natural health magazine and read an article on the positive effects of soy on menopausal women. This is fascinating. You want everyone to know about this, even mainstream magazine readers. You take notes on the article, lift out some quotes, and copy down the recipes. Wow, you think. This magazine has handed you an article for little effort.
 
You blew it. Not only is the magazine in its entirety copyrighted by the publisher, the writer of the article has his own copyright protection.
 
Last try. Start over. You read the article and wish to do something on the idea of soy helping women's hot flashes (or power surges, depending on your outlook) for your local newspaper's food section. The idea of soy being helpful is not copyrighted. The idea of including soy recipes is not
copyrighted. You can take those two bits and start your own research, calling a local macrobiotic expert for an interview and create three or four of your own recipes. You could (if you lack imagination) take another person's recipes and rewrite the instructions for preparing the dish. Remember the list of ingredients is not copyrighted; the preparation of has appeared online or in print. Once a writer puts it on paper, he or she has the right to authorship.
 
Now you're cooking. So, what can be copyrighted?
 
Copyright protects original works:
Fiction and non-fiction articles, books, essays published in print and online.
Compilations of articles and essays
Compilations of recipes
 
And what does the copyright protection entail? Your work cannot be photocopied. Works of a derivative nature cannot be published. Copies of your work cannot be sold or given away. Actually, they can if ,and only if, you give permission. Permission given can be casual, as in an email that says, "Sure, you may use my article on Six Ways to Break Into Food Writing on your website as long as you include a link to my website and newsletter." It can also be as a result of a contract written and reviewed by lawyers on both sides.
 
The copyright categories are expansive, meaning that your works are protected as soon as you write them down. In the first example, if you had written the article itself and emailed it to a friend who then sent it out as her own, you are protected and can sue for financial damages due to
copyright infringement. There are also steps you can take to keep even this from happening. At the end of an e-mail that includes an essay on your first cooking experience that you are sending to a critique group, you could include a statement that this email in no way constitutes your permission for the work to be copied or used in anyway. You could simply include the copyright symbol or the word "copyright" itself, the year, and your name: (c) 2003 Pamela White.
 
Since your work is copyrighted the second your write it - this article was copyrighted when I finished writing it, even before it was edited - why bother to register your work with the copyright office? The National Writers Union (www.nwu.org) works to protect the rights of freelance
writers and they recommend that writers register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office once a year. The administrative work may be significant for writers, but the fee is not. You can bundle all works within a 12-month time frame in one copyright application. The fee is $30. Be sure that you have retained rights and can legally copyright your work. You may copyright published and unpublished work this way. Copyrights last the life of the author plus 70 years.
 
Registration forms and more information are available at www.loc.gov/copyright/ . You'll need two printed copies of each original work you wish to copyright; no electronic copies are accepted. Your package of registration form, check and works go to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office,
101 Independence Ave., S. E., Washington, DC 20559-6000.
 
To qualify for copyright protection in the U.S., authors must be a citizen or resident of the U.S. or a citizen or resident of a country with which the U.S. government has a reciprocal
copyright agreement. International copyrights that would automatically protect all works everywhere do not exist. The Copyright Office has a publication on "International Copyright Relations of the United States" that outlines which foreign countries offer protection.
 
Copyright laws exist to protect and encourage original creative works. As soon as you write your article, you own the copyright to it. Registration of your written work with the U.S. Copyright Office provides protection in a court of law; your work must be registered in order to take someone to court for copyright infringement.
 
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Pam White is the editor of "Food Writing," and online newsletter, and author of FabJob.com's "Become a Food Writer." She is also the promotion and marketing director for Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine (www.fmam.biz), and the Busy Cooking Section Editor at BusyParentsOnline.com . Visit her at http://www.food-writing.com.