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Copywright

Posted by Prettyrose on August 19, 2011 - 13:19

Hi All :) I hope you are all ok. I know this subject is in the forums but I cannot see it and looked 3 times.

A friend said wanted me to clarify the law on copyright in the UK. she has registered her work on the intellectual property registration center that say they can protect it been misused. But she thinks someone is using her story else where but not crediting my friend.

any help appreciated again :)

thank you :)

Keep Writing
Keep Smiling :)

‹ I hope no one minds but I made a little ABCtales advert on goanimate.com Writing by Feng Shui ›

WilkyBarKid | August 19, 2011 - 13:45

This is the most recent discussion re copyright I can find in the forums:

http://abctales.com/forum/2010/12/30/copyright-questions

Basically, copyright is automatic and you don't need to register it anywhere. But no-one actively polices it.

Your friend will have to pursue it him/herself. I would suggest contacting the publisher or site owner and appraising them of the situation in the first instance.

Richard L. Prov... | August 19, 2011 - 22:48

Yes, this is good advice. I would make sure the poem has the name of the original author on it when published. And if any money exchanged hands then it creates a problem, perhaps at least half of the loot SHOULD be forked over.

If the plagiarist put their own name on it, even if they did not receive moola, inform the publication and ask your name be placed on the poem. At least you will get credit for it.

I would then contact the offender and tell him/her you found them out and what are they going to do about it. Before you speak to them check the Internet to see if they have any other publications.

Then tell the offender you will be contacting ALL the publishers to question whether the work they printed actually belongs to the offending author. Some thoughts to think about. Richard L. Provencher

Prettyrose | August 21, 2011 - 00:29

Hi All :) and Wilkybarkid and Richard, Thank you both for the advice, I shall pass it on.

sorry if any errors as I am not well but wanted to reply.

Keep Writing
Keep Smiling :)

tcook | August 28, 2011 - 12:29

Just to re-inforce this excellent advice - by placing your work on this site or others like it you are in effect protecting your copyright. You can demonstrate that the work is by you and the date that it was posted shows when it was written. But the onus is on you to protect your copyright.

I have had a few instances of plagiarism on here over the years and have always acted swiftly and fairly to correct the situation. Your friend should expect such service from other sites.

bukharinwasmyfa... | September 2, 2011 - 09:17

In terms of copyright for writing, you have it automatically, the challenge is to prove it.

This is the UK government site for intellectual property: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

There are commercial organisations charging for protection of intellectual property: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/

While they're entitled to offer this service, it doesn't necessarily offer any greater legal protection - in terms of proving that a story is yours - than uploading it to ABCtales for free (or, in fact, saving a file on your own computer - which will give you a record of the date that the file was created and saved).

It's also worth bearing in mind that writers can't copyright (general) ideas for stories.

So for example, JK Rowling, is not in a position to prevent other authors from publishing books about boys who attend schools for wizards and fight an ongoing battle with a scary nemesis.