Important!!! A Warning About Copyright

Recently I was introduced to the term Creative Commons which refers to a license that an author of a creative work can set up to allow others to build upon or share their material without having to deal with all the legalities of copyright. While researching more into this topic I watched an informational video on the Creative Commons website which told me that whenever you take a picture or save a document onto a computer that automatically means your material is copyrighted.



The video I watched on the Creative Commons website.

This was completely new to me and instead of looking at the video saying to myself that's interesting, my gut reaction was to jump on this blog to warn you, the members of our Writing for New Media class that the video's statement about copyright is not totally accurate. Yes, there is a legal document like the one in the video which states works become copyrighted automatically the moment they're made but what they don't tell you is that the only way that can hold up in court when someone tries to steal your material is if you have the certificate that says your work is registered with the Library of Congress which you can receive by visiting their website.

The reason why I feel it is important to share this information with you, the members of our New Media class is that by us being students at a Fine Arts School like Columbia College we have been all been asked to produce some form of creative work such as a script, music composition, painting or film and I feel as one of your peers I have a responsibility to make sure that your material is protected in a way that will prevent some industry exec from stealing your idea leaving you screwed. Now I know by making this statement some of you think I'm being paranoid but according to many of the Professors that I have had here at Columbia not thinking your material is copyrighted until you receive a certificate from the Library of Congress is the way to go.

An example of a form you will recieve after copyrighting your work with the Library of Congress.

For example, my Television Producer teacher, Tracy Fetteroif told us a story that she had a friend that turned in a script for the X-Files without registering it with the Library of Congress. A month later, the episode aired on TV with writing credits going to another writer for just changing the names of the characters in the original script. Based on this story, the best advice I can give you when it comes to setting up copyright, creative commons or showing your creative works to a company is to consult with a professional if you are unsure about a decision that needs to be made. These professionals may include a friend or family member that is a lawyer or someone who is in the same field as your creative work but the bottom line here is that this person needs to be someone you trust because your creative work is your livelihood and I would hate to see something happen to it.