On 3/15/98, Ryan Day <rmday[_at_]chat.carleton.ca> wrote:
>
> I'm considering posting some of my short stories I've written
> on my web page, and I want to know if they're automatically protected;
> that is, do I have to go through some large, complex, expensive
> process to get them copyrighted? Or can I just put them up without
> fear of them being stolen and appearing in some B-movie five years
> from now?
By authoring the story and fixating it you have copyrighted the story, which gives you most of your rights. However, putting a copyright notice on the web page would not be tough and would probably be a good idea. Legally, it gives you some rights with respect to people later claiming they didn't know the work was copyrighted, but, from a common sense point of view, it also has merit as it explicitly lets the world know where you and your work stand. So, inasmuch as I am not permitted to dispense legal advice, here's my common sense way of doing it:
Put a copyright symbol (or the word "Copyright") on the web page. Put the year of first publication next to it. If this is the first time you're "distributing" it to the public (so to speak), put this year. If you published it before, put that year. Then put your name next to the year.
An example might be: Copyright 1998 Ryan Day
That oughta take care of notice. BTW, any similarity between my common sense advice and section 401 of the Copyright Act is no doubt coincidental.
Registration is harder, and, worse still, it costs some money, although not a lot. Here you have to decide whether it's worth it. Registration is most important with respect to damages and attorney's fees. Without registration you cannot collect statutory damages or attorney's fees. Also, if someone infringes, i.e., copies your work without your permission, you must register your work before you can sue. If you're interested in registering your work, then you might take a gander at the following web page of the U.S. Copyright Office:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/reg.html
If you are still unsure about how to go about it, you could always talk to an attorney, but that may cost more than the registration. :-)
I'll leave you with one cynical note. You asked if you could post the stories "without fear of them being stolen." Copyright protection doesn't prevent stealing; it just gives you a remedy if stealing happens.
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