I went to a copyright workshop in Townsvile, at the Writers’ Festival, and learnt some valuable things from the Arts Law Centre. I want to share them with fellow writers. I have been writing and getting published and publishing others’ for long enough to have come across a few breaches of copyright.

The basic laws are:

Owners of copyright in works can:

• reproduce the work (including by photocopying, copying by hand, filming, recording and scanning);

• make the work public for the first time; and

• communicate the work to the public (for example, via fax, email, broadcasting, cable or the internet).

Moral rights

Individual creators have rights called moral rights, whether or not they own copyright. These are the rights to:

• be attributed as the creator of their work;

• take action if their work is falsely attributed as being someone else’s work or is altered by someone else but

attributed as if it were unaltered; and

• take action if their work is distorted or treated in a way that is prejudicial to their honour or reputation.

It is up to YOU to decide how your work is treated.

What is protected by copyright:

• textual material (“literary works”) such as journal articles, novels, screenplays, poems, song lyrics and reports;

• compilations (another sub-category of “literary works”) such as anthologies, directories and databases – the selection and arrangement of material may be protected separately from the individual items contained in the compilation;

• published editions: publishers have copyright in their typographical arrangements, which is separate from the

copyright in works reproduced in the edition (such as poems or illustrations or music).

Something that is a literary, for copyright purposes will be protected if it is original. In copyright terms, it’s not hard for something to be original: it really just means that the work isn’t a copy of something else.

What is not protected by copyright:

Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, styles, techniques or information.

To get copyright protection:

You do not apply for copyright in Australia. There is no system of registration here, forms to fill in or fees to be paid. You do not need to publish your work, put a copyright notice on it. It is automatic and free.

What to do if your copyright is violated?

I’d complain to the copyright violator. If that didn’t work I would contact others who might be affected and apply group pressure. If that didn’t work complain to the ISP, publisher or newspaper etc, some overarching body.

How to protect yourself from copyright theft:

Find out exactly what is planned with the market you choose. Will your work be available on a public website or on a password protected site? Will it be turned into print.? Will it be on google book search? Will it be a free ebook on a public site or password protected area? Will it be emailed to others? How long will the market hold your work? Are you giving your rights away - and for how long? Who will have copies of your work for selection and editing? Is the market a subsidiary of something else? Do you have the rights to vet the editing or are you bound to accept it? What editions will your work be in? Etc… In other words, find out the full story before you submit - even to your local group anthology… things can go wrong and having strict, known and adhered to rules will save trouble down the track. Find out what the contract will be - even if it is not to be signed till after the editing and before publication.

Of course, the bottom line is - at the end of the day - if you send your work out to be published it is immediately at risk of being stolen. However, you need to publish or perish (oh the cliches!) so in the process of getting published be sure you know ahead of time exactly what the market you chose to submit to has as exact guidelines  and FUTURE PLANS covering all the basic laws as above. There is more to the subject of copyright so google and find out the laws. I would suggest unless you are JK, stay away from the lawyers.

DO YOU HAVE AN EDITING OR COPYRIGHT HORROR STORY - IF SO AND YOU WANT TO HELP OTHERS AVOID THE PITFALLS SEND IT TO ME AND I WIlL POST IT here! dianepithie @ gmail.com