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Small Business & Consumer Lawyers |
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Copyright |
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Attorney, Melissa Deutsch |
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Attorney, L. Gwendolyn Jacobs |
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You have copyrights to things you may not even be aware of. However, noticing what these things are and evaluating the value you have in the things you created and the value those things have to others can be a source of income you may not even realize you had.
Anytime you set your original work to paper (or any other fixed form), you have created copyrights in that material. In its simplest terms and rights, this means you have the legal right to keep others from profiting from your work without your consent.
Though, doing this can become a costly ordeal if you haven’t registered your copyright. Registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office may help you recover some of those costs and penalize the person stealing your work by |
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imposing statutory fines and liability for attorneys’ fees.
What’s Copyrightable? The way something is expressed is copyrightable. However, ideas are not copyrightable. Take for example the following:
While bouncing balloons off my head at work, I wondered what others would think if they opened my office door and realized I wasn’t working. That’s when I decided to design a simple computer game whose object was to bounce a balloon across the screen to other online players back and forth as many times as possible without allowing the balloon to touch the border of the game window.
That paragraph, word for word, is my copyrighted material. I haven’t registered the copyright, but it’s mine. And I have the legal right to stop anyone and everyone from copying or distributing it. The way I said, “while bouncing balloons off my head at work” painted a picture and was my original way of expressing how I came up with a game. That’s a copyrightable expression. What’s not copyrightable is the idea that a game should be designed so that office workers could play online games with each other bouncing around virtual balloons.
That idea may be protected by other means, such as non-disclosure agreements. But it cannot be protected by a copyright.
What Do Businesses Copyright? Different businesses gain advantages over their competitors in different ways. Different things create value for different businesses. And different things warrant the expense and protection of registered copyrights for different businesses.
For example, say you own a commercial real estate leasing business. You’ve probably tweaked your standard lease in various ways over the years. You’ve learned the problems that usually arise with your type of leases. And you’ve realized that people ask certain types of questions when they sign leases. So, you’ve probably clarified the wording of your lease a couple times over the years. Well, those clarifications have value. They may save you time explaining things to renters. They may avoid the need for lawsuits. And just running copies of your lease may save your competitors the time, expense, and headache you went through developing your lease. Do you really want to give away a product you’ve developed for your company? Do you mind that your investment has resulted in your competitor’s savings? If you do, you may benefit from registering a copyright on your lease.
Other more common examples of materials businesses can benefit from registering copyrights for are: · Books · Articles · Sculptures · Musical recordings · Photographs
When deciding whether to register a copyright, think about the value that work gives to your business and the value it may have for your competitors.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure which parts or products your business uses can be copyrighted. Our lawyers are here to help you. We love helping entrepreneurs understand how to protect their work. If you have a question, just ask. We’ll answer. |
