From the Tool Shed Copyright Information and Other Legal Concerns

The rights to intellectual property are vital for both the creator of an intellectual property and for the publisher and understanding what these rights are and how to secure them are very important. One of the first questions a writer (or other creative person) wants to know is "How do I copyright my work? and so protect my work?" Another question is "What can I legally quote from someone else's work and still not infringe on someone else's copyright?"

• How to Contact the Library of Congress
  
  
• Copyrighting Your Work
  
  
• Copyright Information Sources
  
  
• Comments on Copyright Issues
  
  
• Legal Advisors
  
  
• Talk to the Cat

In addition to your being able to write the Copyright Office, the Library of Congress has a phone number (202-707-6452) which plays a recording (from) with very useful information concerning ISSNs, ISBNs, LC catalog card numbers, CIP information, and copyright registration. The messages include specific contact telephone numbers and procedures.

Copyright Office

Library of Congress

Washington, DC 20559

Phone: 202-707-9100

Library of Congress

To register the copyright on your book, you can call 202-707-9100 to request FormTX, which is the application for copyright of books. When your book arrives from the printer, complete the form and return with $30 check (as of June 1999) made payable to Register of Copyrights along with two copies of finished publication (no galleys) to the Copyright Office within two weeks of receiving books from printer.

The basic copyright information -- straight from the horse's mouth-- comes from several Library of Congress sites. The phone number is 202-707-3000. A Web search on the subject will turn up numerous other commentaries on the subject. Some will be listed here:

Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/lchp.html

Web-based catalog (experimental): http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/booksquery.html

World wide copyright guides: http://www.theworld.com/LAW/copyright/subject.htm

This is the place United States Code, TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS to check what the law says about copyrights, as the law was enacted in 1946 and its subsequent 1976 revisions.

Extensive discussions on intellectual properties may be found at the Basic Intellectual Property site. This site covers basic intellectual property information for writers, artists, inventors, programmers, et al, as well as discussions on fraudulent invention promotion schemes.

You can find detailed information on the Copyright Act of 1976: http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc/17/overview.html

Information on copyrights and copies of Copyright Office records and deposits

Peter Scott, Manager of the Small Systems, University of Saskatchewan Libraries, maintains Library of Congress information in his "WebCATS" utility.

Related to copyright issues is the matter of what is in the public domain.

The Public Domain Report lists songs, movies, books, etc. which have entered public domain. An archive is available.

A growing number of sites contain articles on copyright issues. Come back later for a listing of some of these sites.

Publishers, both neophytes and veterans, have on-going needs for legal information. The area of copyright law is growing, expanding not only from the traditional print and audio media books and periodicals, recordings and presentations -- but into the often murkier areas of rights in cyberspace and the problems stemming from the ease of reproduction of materials. The attorneys listed below all practice in the area of publishing and intellectual property law.

_________________

JAMES V. DELONG

Regulatory Policy Center

Phone: 202-338-0556 Fax: 202-338-0674

jdelong@regpolicy.com

www.regpolicy.com

DeLong's primary focus seems to be on regulatory policy and property rights generally. DeLong is the author of Property Matters: How Property Rights Are Under Assault -- And Why You Should Care (Free Press 1997). Check out his article, "Publishers Must Rewrite Their Rule Book" on the site.

_________________

IVAN HOFFMAN, B.A., J.D.

E-mail: ivan@ivanhoffman.com

www.ivanhoffman.com

IVAN HOFFMAN, B.A., J.D., a practicing attorney at law, has posted many articles on issues of concern e.g., Copyrights, Contracts, Writing and Publishing Law, Recording and Music Law, Internet Law, Web Design Issues-to publishers and writers.
_________________

DAVID W. KOESHER, Attorney at Law

700 Lumber Exchange

10 South Fifth Street

Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone: 612-204-4567; Fax: 612-204-4568

E-mail: dklaw@cognisinc.com or dk@dklex.com

www.dklex.com

David Koesher practices in the areas of publishing law. the site includes articles on Publishing Law (publishing agreements; agent agreements; permissions; subsidiary rights licensing); Merchandise Licensing (license agreements; agent agreements); Copyrights and Trademarks (ownership; registrations; transfers); and Business Law (buying/selling a business; consulting agreements; non-disclosure and non-compete agreements).

Koesher has spoken many times at the publishers' groups in the Minneapolis area.

He also has an excellent print newsletter in which he discusses various aspects of copyright issues.

LLOYD J. JASSIN

Law Offices of Lloyd J. Jassin

1560 Broadway

New York, NY 10036

Phone: 212-354-4442; Fax: 212-840-1124

E-mail: Copylaw@aol.com

www.copylaw.com/

Jassin is the co-author of The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers, Editors and Publishers (Wiley Books for Writers // John Wiley & Sons) 1998. Check the site for articles posted, especially the one with John McHugh on electronic rights.

LLOYD L. RICH

1163 Vine Street

Denver, CO 80206

Phone: 303-388-0291; FAX: 303-388-0477

E-mail: rich@sni.net

www.publaw.com

Lloyd writes for the PubLaw Update, a FREE Information Service provided to the publishing community by The Publishing Law Center, sponsored by the Law Office of Lloyd L. Rich. This service consists of 6-8 mailing each year of articles which concern publishing law copyright, trademarks, contracts, and other issues involving the protection of intellectual property rights. To subscribe to this FREE service, simply write, fax, call, or visit our web site and sign up. To unsubscribe to this list, please e-mail cwaugh@sni.net and ask to be removed.

A multi-media handbook, An Intellectual Property Law Primer For Multimedia and Web Developers, prepared by J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe, provides a helpful guide to legal issues in developing and distributing multimedia and online works.

Comments or suggestions?
Write to catspawpress@aol.com; we'd love to hear from you. Thanks for dropping by, and come again--we'll be adding new "shelves" and "rooms " in the Tool Shed from time to time, and there's always new material to put in the Tool Shed!

You can also take a publishing class: Pat Bell is a faculty member of the Writers College, where she teaches an on-line class on publishing. Check out When is The Next Publishing Class? for her current schedule.

Don't have time to take a class? You can also arrange for consultations with her. Help is close at hand!