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What are the requirements for a legally upholdable copyright? If I write a paragraph of random words and apply a Creative Commons license to it, can I require a

by icey 16y ago

What are the requirements for a legally upholdable copyright? If I write a paragraph of random words and apply a Creative Commons license to it, can I require anyone who uses that sequence of random words to adhere by the CC license going forward? Is it more involved than that?

tbrownaw 16y ago
I think you have to register a copy with the Library of Congress before you can actually sue anyone, and can't collect damages for anything that happened before you registered.
- VBprogrammer 16y ago
  In the UK at-least, there is an automatic copyright entitlement granted on anything you write / create which is deemed copyright under the limits set out in law. "Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement. Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so. Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be. In short, work that expresses an idea may be protected, but not the idea behind it." Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works License. Copyright © The UK Copyright Service. Source:www.copyrightservice.co.uk
  - tbrownaw 16y ago
    Yes, everything is automatically copyrighted. But there is some sort of enforcement action that you can only take after you register, I'm not entirely certain which one (suing in general, going for statutory damages, ...). So my understanding is that it goes like 1. create something, get automatic copyright 2. someone infringes, you send a nasty letter 3. go register with the government 4. sue the infringer to make them stop or buy a license (assuming they ignored the letter) or 1. create something, get automatic copyright 2. go register with the government 3. someone infringes, you send a nasty letter 4. sue the infringer to make them stop (or buy a license) *and pay damages* (assuming they ignored the letter) where without automatic copyright it would go like 1. create something, forget to file for copyright 2. someone uses your work, you send a nasty letter 3. that someone tells you to STFU

by icey 16y ago

tbrownaw 16y ago

I think you have to register a copy with the Library of Congress before you can actually sue anyone, and can't collect damages for anything that happened before you registered.

VBprogrammer 16y ago
In the UK at-least, there is an automatic copyright entitlement granted on anything you write / create which is deemed copyright under the limits set out in law. "Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement. Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so. Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be. In short, work that expresses an idea may be protected, but not the idea behind it." Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works License. Copyright © The UK Copyright Service. Source:www.copyrightservice.co.uk
- tbrownaw 16y ago
  Yes, everything is automatically copyrighted. But there is some sort of enforcement action that you can only take after you register, I'm not entirely certain which one (suing in general, going for statutory damages, ...). So my understanding is that it goes like 1. create something, get automatic copyright 2. someone infringes, you send a nasty letter 3. go register with the government 4. sue the infringer to make them stop or buy a license (assuming they ignored the letter) or 1. create something, get automatic copyright 2. go register with the government 3. someone infringes, you send a nasty letter 4. sue the infringer to make them stop (or buy a license) *and pay damages* (assuming they ignored the letter) where without automatic copyright it would go like 1. create something, forget to file for copyright 2. someone uses your work, you send a nasty letter 3. that someone tells you to STFU