What is Copyright?

The technical meaning of copyright is exactly what it sounds like. It is the right to copy and distribute any type of material, including books, plays, cds, and dvds. The copyright of written materials usually belongs to the writer, the writer's estate, or the publishing company.

In more general use, copyright refers to a writer's ownership of his or her own writings. According to Common Law Copyright, you own everything you write, and your words cannot be taken from you.

All published material, and much unpublished material, is further protected through registration with the Library of Congress. However there is a registration fee, so it is only recommended to those who are serious about publishing their book, short story, play, etc.

When a piece is accepted for publication, the publishing company who has accepted it usually pays for its registration with the Library of Congress. So, if you trust everyone you're showing the piece to, it's better to wait until it's accepted for publication to get it registered.

One myth claims that you can mail your manuscript to yourself to prove when you wrote it (because of the post date). This is called the Poor Man's Copyright. However, because of how easy this is to fake, it is unlikely that it will hold up in court. Just burning a cd of your work is more likely to prove when you wrote it.

What can be Copyrighted?

Characters, fantasy locations, and lines can be copyrighted. As such, all of the following are currently or at some point have been copyrighted:

Peter Pan, Percy Jackson, Lyra Silvertongue, Frodo, Narnia, Wonderland, Neverland, Oz, "O Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo?" and "Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

However, and this is very important, ideas cannot be copyrighted. As such, the following is true:

Harry Potter is copyrighted. An eleven-year-old wizard who has to fight against a great evil is not copyrighted.

Hogwarts is copyrighted. A hidden institution of magical education is not copyrighted.

Because of this, lawsuits such as the one in which an author accused Dan Brown of stealing ideas from his book to use in The Da Vinci Code will never win. Legally, it doesn't matter whether Dan Brown took the ideas as long as he didn't take the characters or book's exact words.

There is an undefined line of how much is too much, and people can generally agree on when something has gone too far. For example, while you can write a book about that eleven-year-old wizard who has to fight a great evil, you'll probably get in trouble if your eleven-year-old wizard attends a school of magic in England, has one slightly cowardly male friend and one extremely intelligent female friend, and together they fight a dark wizard who had attacked the eleven-year-old wizard when he was a baby, then disappeared for ten years.

Further, if a publisher thinks that an idea has already been done, then they're not going to publish your work. And even if it does get published, do you really want to be considered the author with no original ideas?

How long does Copyright last?

Copyright law was changed in 1978, so the law differs for works published prior to that year and works published after it.

Works published prior to 1978 remain under copyright for 95 years after the date of publication.

Works published after 1978 remain under copyright for 70 years after the death of the author.

As such, characters, fantasy locations, and lines of works published prior to 1913 are up for grabs. This is why it's legal for current day writers to base their fantasy novel in Wonderland, to write unauthorized sequels to Peter Pan, and to create manga versions of Romeo and Juliet. However, don't get your hopes up. You still need to do something original to get published. No publisher will allow you to pass A Christmas Carol off as your own work.