Legalities

Ask Me Anything: Getting Started and Copyright

Mike Dougherty asks, How does one get started? Meredith Eaton asks, How do you get established as a freelancer? Do you start by contacting publications or writing articles? I’m answering Meredith and Mike’s questions together — I hope you two don’t mind! The first thing you should do if you’re considering becoming a freelance writer [...]

Read the full article

My Dad Meets Copyright Law

I know I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to copyright law. I’ve taken classes on the subject, kept up with the latest news and even sent out a DMCA takedown notice of my own. I have a vested interest in making sure that my own copyrights are enforced, and I get downright [...]

Read the full article

Copyright Under A Pen Name

Odds are good that you’ve at least considered writing under a pen name at some point or another. One issue that might be holding you back is the question of copyright. Not to worry, though — even if you use a pen name, you enjoy the protections of copyright. Just like any other work, pseudonymous [...]

Read the full article

Website Copyright Scam

I found out about a bunch of scammers targeting website owners from Writer Beware. Essentially, a group of scam artists are looking up who owns a given website and then sending the owner an email from “the US Copyright Registry,” claiming that the website in question is not copyrighted.  For a measly $350, the scammers [...]

Read the full article

Take Action on Content Theft

The internet is great: you can publish all sorts of work and get paid for it almost immediately. But, unfortunately, it also makes it very easy for people to steal your work and repost it. It’s up to you to take action against this sort of content theft — even if you sold the piece [...]

Read the full article

The Copyright Series: Traditional Copyright

Yesterday, we covered Public Domain. Despite the availability of other options, standard copyright remains the best choice for most freelance writers. It is the easiest to use, and offers the most protection for a creative work. Literally, it guarantees that the creator of a work is the only person with the right to copy that [...]

Read the full article

The Copyright Series: Public Domain

Yesterday, we covered Founder’s Copyright. If a work is in the public domain, effectively no one can enforce any complaints against copyright infringement. Typically, this occurs because either the copyright has expired or because the creator of the work in question has specifically released it into the public domain. I can only think of a [...]

Read the full article

The Copyright Series: Founder’s Copyright

Yesterday, we covered Copyleft. Founder’s Copyright is based on the idea that when the U.S.’s Founding Fathers wrote the original copyright law in 1790, they knew what they were doing. That law gave authors a monopoly over their creations fourteen years, with an option to renew for another fourteen years. During those fourteen years, authors [...]

Read the full article

The Copyright Series: Copyleft

Yesterday, we discussed Creative Commons. Copyleft is essentially an attempt to license copyrighted material with no restrictions: a copyleft license allows any person with a copy of a given work to reproduce, adapt or distribute that work. It has been mostly used for software, but has, in a few instances, been used for various written [...]

Read the full article

Add a legal dictionary to your reference books

Contractual jargon can be a pain in the butt, I admit. But a freelance writer could be facing new contracts on a very regular basis — too often to consult with an attorney about complex clauses. Short of taking classes on contract law, it can be hard to learn all the intricacies of the topic. [...]

Read the full article

← Previous Entries