Copyright
From Guidevines, a user-editable wiki for writersFrom Guidevines
Copyright is the inherent ownership of an original work of writing, visual art, film, sculpture, music, etc. By modern international law, and in the USA since 1978, you have copyright in a work the moment you create it.
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[edit] Old Days
The concept of copyright is pretty much mid-19th century. Before then, the sheer difficulty of typesetting and the lawsuits of publishers prevented piracy.
In the later 19th century, the US Copyright Office was established as part of the Library of Congress. Copyright did not exist until something was registered with the Copyright Office. Few paintings were copyrighted, and most written works were copyrighted, not by their authors, but by their publisher, leaving the publishers as the owners of the copyright.
Copyright was considered to exist for 28 years, renewable for later terms. In any case, copyright expired 75 years after first publication. At that time the work became public domain and could be re-published or exploited by anyone who liked.
[edit] The Revolution of '78
In 1978, the US came into line with most other countries. Copyright existed from the time of creation, assumed in the creator/writer, not a publisher, and continues until 75 years after the creator's death.
[edit] Don't Waste It!
Consider copyright as actually a whole bundle of different copyrights, like a bunch of grapes. You have "all world rights" but this breaks down into film rights, game rights, electronic rights, graphic novel rights, first world Spanish rights, second English-language periodical rights for North America, and a great many other possible divisions.
When you use up these rights, for profit or not, they are gone, as gone as when you give the grape to someone to eat, for free or for money.
When you self-publish on the web, you have just let the world eat your first world electronic publication rights in whatever language you used. If you then send the piece to a publisher who also wants first world electronic publication rights, you no longer have them to sell. This makes your work less desireable, as a smaller bunch of grapes, already picked over. Certainly, an on-line e-zine won't want something that half the potential audience has already read on your site.
Church newsletters and other "nice people" who regularly "borrow" poems they like to jazz up their little periodicals should also note that they are stealing that person's copyrights. Not a nice thing for a church to do, theft. It doesn't matter that you're not selling the newsletter. "Not for profit" has nothing to do with it. If the author does not give you permission to use the work, don't use it. You do not have the right to steal and eat their grapes just because you can. One of the most depressing things for an inspirational poet is to see their work circulation as "Anonymous": admired, repeated, but repaying them nothing, not even publicity. The only thing worse is seeing it with someone else's name because it's been attributed to the person who contributed it.
[edit] Fair Use
Now, it is permissable in certain academic situations to make copies of an author's work and even distribute them to others.
You may always copy for your own reference, though you may not quote for publication without permission. "Copy for your own reference" used to mean longhand scribbles, but it often means time at the photocopier nowadays.
Teachers may photocopy and distribute only to their students and only for class use chapters of books, or individual short stories or poems.
