Advice for a writer about protecting work

Sup duders,

I'm writing a screenplay and I'm thinking about bring on someone to write with me. I'm a little worried about protecting my intellectual property, I've had some issues in the past with people helping themselves to my ideas. That's business though. Has anyone had to protect their writing? Perhaps someone is familiar with the process?

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Ideas are a dime-a-dozen, it's often implementation that wins the day. When it comes to writing, copyright is the mechanism that protects the expression of the author. If thou have great concern, I'd suggest simply registering the copyright on the work -- it's the best way to show easily in court that copyright was broken (although in the United States copyright attaches the moment a pen is put to paper, registering enables a swifter recognition of when pen put to paper.)

I have quite a few copyrighted works. If this is in the United States, here's a place to start http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-register.html

Now, copyright cannot protect ideas directly; but having a work with a registered copyright might provide a disincentive for someone else to attempt to duplicate the details of the work.

It is not necessary to copyright a work to receive some protections (as noted above) but when if it were to come to a court battle, having it registered goes a very long way and it's only $35 and postage. ξ

If your concern is that he is going to work with you and then break off and rip off the idea, you should (in addition to the advice on copyright above) look into getting a contract drafted regarding the work, plot, characters, etc, being your intellectual property, and all rights revert back to you in the event of a split.

Aside from copyright advice above, I'll tell you what my Screenplay Analysis professor told me:

Sign, seal, and mail your screenplay to yourself and don't open it. It puts a identifiable mark and date by a third party (the Post Office) on your intellectual property that proves that it was already written before someone attempted to plagiarize your work. Tada.

@Grimhild said:

Aside from copyright advice above, I'll tell you what my Screenplay Analysis professor told me:

Sign, seal, and mail your screenplay to yourself and don't open it. It puts a identifiable mark and date by a third party (the Post Office) on your intellectual property that proves that it was already written before someone attempted to plagiarize your work. Tada.

That's pretty smart! :)

@Amerist I suspect this is similar to patenting. I've patented something before so it's not a total mystery. It is in the U.S.

I hear people say that about ideas, but everything i see on TV is shit. I can predict the outcome of whatever bullshit someone throws up too early. I can almost quote what the actors will say before they say it. I guess implementation must be the kicker, because it seems to outweigh the gravity of the story. And really, it's seems like distribution or exposure is the crux, which I guess is a branch of implementation. Went to a four year college for film, we'll see how it works out.

Thanks for the heads-up.

@Tim_the_Corsair That's a great suggestion. Outside of drafting the thing and having the said dude sign it, would you suggest further action? A notary for instance?

Thanks for the info Tim.

@Grimhild said:

Aside from copyright advice above, I'll tell you what my Screenplay Analysis professor told me:

Sign, seal, and mail your screenplay to yourself and don't open it. It puts a identifiable mark and date by a third party (the Post Office) on your intellectual property that proves that it was already written before someone attempted to plagiarize your work. Tada.

Yeah, I've heard that before regarding music. Have you had any luck with this? I'm not sure if it qualifies as evidence is my only issue.

Thanks for the thought!

@LD50 said:

@Grimhild said:

Aside from copyright advice above, I'll tell you what my Screenplay Analysis professor told me:

Sign, seal, and mail your screenplay to yourself and don't open it. It puts a identifiable mark and date by a third party (the Post Office) on your intellectual property that proves that it was already written before someone attempted to plagiarize your work. Tada.

Yeah, I've heard that before regarding music. Have you had any luck with this? I'm not sure if it qualifies as evidence is my only issue.

Thanks for the thought!

as far as i know you just need evidence of the date of completion. A self addressed envelop will have an official stamped date on it and will have your identity tied to that date.

@LD50:

Well I've never had to utilize it fortunately, so I couldn't say with 100% certainty hehehe But I trust my professor, and he has an Addy Award under his belt as well as several projects, for what it's worth. And an awesome Slavic accent.

@Sin4profit said:

@LD50 said:

@Grimhild said:

Aside from copyright advice above, I'll tell you what my Screenplay Analysis professor told me:

Sign, seal, and mail your screenplay to yourself and don't open it. It puts a identifiable mark and date by a third party (the Post Office) on your intellectual property that proves that it was already written before someone attempted to plagiarize your work. Tada.

Yeah, I've heard that before regarding music. Have you had any luck with this? I'm not sure if it qualifies as evidence is my only issue.

Thanks for the thought!

as far as i know you just need evidence of the date of completion. A self addressed envelop will have an official stamped date on it and will have your identity tied to that date.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but this sort of thing is an urban myth. I'm a law school student and we discussed this particular myth at length in my Intellectual Property seminar. Could it potentially be evidence that you had an idea first? Maybe, but a court certainly isn't going to open and shut your case based on that. There's plenty of other factors they could and would look into and it would not doubt be a grueling process. You've got to either register your work with the Patent and Trademark Office or be careful about who you show your work to before publishing it.

If you really wanted to be pragmatic and safe, you could write up a contract with the person you're bringing in. Have then initial each page of your original work and sign something saying that they promise not to walk away with your ideas or give them to anyone else. Have them sign it, put it together, and hide-it-away in hopes you'll never have to use it.

@LD50@Grimhild: The Poor Man's Copyright doesn't hold up in infringement cases, you must actually register or trademark it. It's something that I have been told over and over throughout school, and the propagation of this myth does a grave disservice to people who want to protect their work but can't afford to actually copyright it or register it.

A contract would probably be the best way of protecting yourself as well as keeping a detailed record of what you and your partner work on together. The trouble will be finding a partner that will agree to your terms but it is possible. Ideas, though, are a hard thing to prove that you had first, or proving that the other person didn't come to the idea on their own. Once you get a full script, then copyright and register it, it will be far easier to defend your writing with that.

@BrockNRolla: @Raethen:

Right, that's why I was pointing it out in addition to getting an actual copyright. It's obviously not a fix for all of your worries, but it's still one more thing to have should it ever go to court.

@Grimhild: Sorry if my reply came off as dickish. It wasn't directed at you, but educators in subjects dealing with ideas or works that need to be copyrighted (ie writing, music, other creative medium, hell even coding) that tell their students that this works. I've had a few friends and fellow students burned by it in the past and seen years of hard work go down the drain.

@Raethen:

No harm no foul. Just throwing it out there in addition to the copyright process to help cover the creative ass, just as my professor told us. It wasn't explained as 100%, cheap, fix all substitute for getting it registered, just another tool to have, should it ever come to that.

@Grimhild:

Yeah, more evidence is always good. The people I know that have been burned by it used solely this method and lawyers would only talk to them long enough to say they were SOL.

The "creative ass" :] thanks all posters for their input. I feel like i have 50,000 bothers. EDIT: LOL, BROTHERS..

@LD50 said:

The "creative ass" :] thanks all posters for their input. I feel like i have 50,000 bothers. EDIT: LOL, BROTHERS..

I actually mean it in the sense of "covering one's ass," just to clarify. Heh.

@Grimhild said:

@LD50 said:

The "creative ass" :] thanks all posters for their input. I feel like i have 50,000 bothers. EDIT: LOL, BROTHERS..

I actually mean it in the sense of "covering one's ass," just to clarify. Heh.

granted. but it's not nearly as funny as when i take your word and use them for my own twisted desires. Thank you for the use of your words.

:]

In all honesty, thanks Grim.

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Basically anything that attaches your writing to you and gives it a date would be a start. In the US you are the copyright holder of anything you write at any time, the problem is always proving that you were the one to write it. I would say it would be a good idea to post your writing to a blog without linking it to anything, or keep it in google docs or something. That way it is at least a little more tied to you concretely.

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I did that. What else is there to say...

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Plenty....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vsLcNJdF9k