How and why to use copyright law to your advantage: The basics
If you’re an artist or a creative and you plan on making money on your creativity, or you just don’t want someone stealing your art, you need to leverage the law. Specifically, the tools of the copyright office, the copyright act, and basic contract law.
Every piece of expressive art that is fixed in a tangible medium is protected by copyright law. But there are things you need to do in order to use those laws to your advantage.
1) Get copyright registrations, and get them early.
When someone infringes on your intellectual property, it’s illegal. But you can’t actually sue them until you have your copyright registrations. But that’s not all. If you register your copyright registration early enough, either before publishing or within the first three months of release, the works become eligible for statutory damages. This is a penalty paid to you for infringing on your copyrighted work after it was registered.
That registration becomes a huge piece of leverage. Because without it, the company that stole your artwork doesn’t have to take you seriously.
2) Get your licenses and assignments straight.
Copyright licenses are essential to getting paid for the use of your work. If you’re a musician you might get an offer from a record label that would assign your rights to them in exchange for money. You might also license your rights for money. These are different mechanisms with different consequences. Be sure to read and understand what you’re signing.
A license can be limited or perpetual, revokable or irrevokable, conditional or non-conditional. Exclusive or non-exclusive. The record company is going to want it to be as broad as possible. But you might want to keep some rights, or limit how long they you sign them away for. The key is in the language of the license. Make sure you read it, understand it, and negotiate for what you want.
An assignment is a transfer of ownership. You are giving all rights to them. This is often the case with record deals, book publishing deals, etc. (Caveat, you can potentially reclaim your rights after 35 years).
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