Author: Dr. Fodor Klaudia | 14th February 2020
How can I “protect” my work with copyright? The notorious copyright myth about the registration and the © sign
In my previous articles I described the concept of copyright and what are the examples of works protected and not protected by copyright. In this article I will continue with the explanation about how the copyright protection applies. How can you protect something with copyright? Do you need to “register” it or put the © next to it? And what does authorship mean and how do you prove it in accordance with the Hungarian copyright code?
- TO REGISTER OR NOT TO REGISTER
I have just created the billboard picture above. I took the photo from a dog in the window years ago in Lisbon. I loved his calm contemplation and the perspective of the window. For this blog I framed it in three versions with a photo design app. Some might say that the pink color doesn’t match to it, but I don’t mind. This is my creative piece of art and I like it like that.
What do you think: do I already own copyright on this image?
As a copyright lawyer I hear this question so frequently: Do I need to register my work to have copyright protection on it? Do I need to “copyright” it?
Most probably this myth stems from the US copyright law where there is a copyright authority, and indeed, if you want to protect your copyright before court, you need to have your works registered beforehand.
But not in Hungary and not in Europe. Here you don’t need to register your work anywhere in order to get the copyright protection.
Thus, when I create my piece of art with the dog, I own copyright on it right away.
- AUTOMATIC PROTECTION
When a book is written, a movie had its final cut, or a creative content is ready to be posted – the copyright protection automatically covers it. Of course, the work must be a creation of an intellectual activity with individual nature and no duplication of other works (for more details about copyright work, read my earlier article).
- OTHER TYPES OF PROTECTION
However, the function of the protection is very different here. Trademark is a tool to ensure the exclusive usage of a brand name, and patent ensures monopoly on worldwide new industrial solutions, patentable inventions.
Intellectual property that is subject to trademarks and patents is usually not a work with individual nature.
Don’t mix up copyright with trademarks. Trademarks are sometimes plain words.
Photo: Klaudia Fodor © (New York, 2010)
- AUTHORSHIP
If you created a work, you will be its author. If someone else created it, then he or she will be the author. If you two created the work together, then you both will share the authorship and you can further decide about the work together, unless your contributions can be used separately.
I made the billboard picture with the dog and also this writing that you are reading, thus, I am the author of them.
Just like someone’s birthplace or mother’s name
- HOW TO PROVE AUTHORSHIP
There is a presumption that the person, whose name is indicated on the work, will be held as the author. Thus, always put your name on your work.
It is possible to prove later that this person is not the author of the work.
When more persons claim to be authors of a work, the court will decide this authorship dispute. How can the court decide this matter without having an official registration of the authorship?
- the author can file a voluntary registration of the work by the Hungarian Authority of Intellectual Property. The date of the application can later prove the day when the author already possessed the work in writing. The application is in Hungarian.
- the author might send a registered e-mail to himself without opening it. The date of receipt on the envelope has an evidence power too.
- the author can prove in accordance with the civil procedure act (through witnesses, documents, objects) that he/she created the work.
Once I heard that a claimant won a court case by proving through the unalterable records on his computer’s hard drive the exact time of the creation of the work. Good job!
Authorship disputes are more common than you think, therefore, it is better to have an evidence about your authorship.
- THE TRUTH ABOUT THE © SIGN
Do I need to put the © sign next to my copyright work?
This presumption also comes from the US copyright law, where earlier copyright owners were required to use the copyright notice © on their works.
Is that a copyright sign © outer space? I don’t think so.
Photo credit: Credit: Flickr / ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum), CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
In Hungary, there has never been a requirement to put the © sign next to your work.
It is not necessary to have your works protected. Many copyright owners still choose to do use this sign, because it has factual benefits.
If you share your work online and you want to make it clear that you are the copyright owner of it, the © sign together with your name is a simple way to inform the world about it and create the legal presumption about your authorship. This implies that you “reserve all your rights” over that content and you are the right person to contact if anyone wants to use it.
For example, in this article, I indicated that I am the author of the photos and I put the © sign next to my name.
- SUMMARY
- if you have a business, where creating is included, and you are concerned that your knowledge about copyright is not deep enough,
- if you want to collect evidence that you are the author of your creations,
- if you want to use someone else’s copyright work,
- if you think, someone infringed your copyright,
