Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 16:53:14 EDT From: "no tink, no" Subject: Re: TECH:copyright On Thu, 10 Apr 1997 07:48:53 EDT, Words from the Monastery wrote: :) At 08:39 PM 4/9/97 -0400, EV Birch wrote: :) :) > How does one go about geting a copyright on a poem? If you want to :) >submit a poem to a magazine or ezine, does a copyright help or hinder the :) >process? :) :) Cut and Paste the symbol from someone's post if you don't know where it is :) on your keyboard, but be sure to write-out "copyright" too ... not all :) systems can read the symbols. If you're in the US ... you're work is :) inherently copyrighted ... to officially copyright it (which is not :) absolutely necessary) you need to fill out some forms and send some cash to :) Uncle Sugah ... you can get the details at: :) :) http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ 1. on putting the notice (or symbol) on your work please don't include the symbol in normal email (the basic ASCII set does not include the symbol). use the form "Copyright 1997 Mike Barker" (put your name in, of course). 2. on how copyright and submitting for publication work together as to whether copyright helps or hinders submitting a poem--it's fundamental to the process. you own copyright, which means you control the right to distribute and copy your work. what you sell is the copyright. 3. obtaining copyright now, beyond the question of labeling, comes the question of obtaining copyright. the Berne convention, which applies almost everywhere, specifies that when you set anything down in any "tangible medium of expression" (e.g., paper, disk, tape, canvas, etc.) it is automatically copyrighted. 4. why would I include a notice if I already have copyright? Including a copyright notice is essentially free, and warns anyone looking at the work against "innocent infringement". That means they can't claim they didn't know the material was copyrighted, a defense which may allow them to avoid paying certain damages. for more details, try http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/faqs/w18858.txt