UK Copyright Issues for Writers You’ve written a screenplay, a book, some poems, a novel – your latest literary creation. Now what? If you’re like most writers, you’ll suffer the inevitable paranoia that your work will be plagiarize
UK Copyright Issues for Writers
By Jonathan Newman
You’ve written a screenplay, a book, some poems, a novel – your latest literary creation. Now what? If you’re like most writers, you’ll suffer the inevitable paranoia that your work will be plagiarized the minute you send it to a producer hungry for the next big hit. You think you’ve written the most perfect screenplay known to man. Ok, so it’s not perfect, you admit, but the IDEA is great. Surely, they’ll pinch the idea!?
You are your own greatest fan. Truthfully, your idea is probably not as good when it hits the real world; no matter what fantasy you have created about it. As writers (and I include myself in this scenario!), we are all sadly deluded as to our own greatness “Not me”, I hear you saying, “I really AM great… speak for yourself!” Well, yes… you too.
Let’s dispel some common myths about writing and copyright, as there seems to be a common confusion in this country as to what it’s all about.
“Copyright is automatic”
That’s right. It’s automatic - the second the ink dries! If you’ve created a literary or artistic work, copyright is created automatically by virtue of its creation. The UK ratified what’s called The Berne Convention with effect from 5 December 1887 and it’s this law that protects you.
Ever wonder why Hollywood produces two films about a comet hitting the earth (Armageddon and Deep Impact)? That’s because you cannot protect ideas, only the expression of an idea. Anyone that’s ever sent their script to Hollywood will know that it comes back unopened anyway. Why? They’re all too worried about law suits. Trust me… if they like your idea… they’ll buy it. If you want to send your script to Jerry Bruckheimer, by the way, it has to go through a recognized literary agent (that doesn’t include your cousin pretending to be one either).
PROTECTING YOUR COPYRIGHT
Ok, so you’ve written your script, but you STILL think someone is gonna pinch your idea. Fair enough… sometimes it happens. In our experience, much less then you think. But it doesn’t hurt to protect yourself. We take out insurance against everything else in our lives: car damages, home, travel, death (all the inevitabilities!), why not a kind of insurance for scripts?
Yes, copyright is automatic, but how do you PROVE that you own the copyright? This is where contention arises. The most common way of proving ownership is to establish the “date of creation” of your work. You do this by registering your work with a third party. Forget sending yourself your work in the post. It’s just altogether less effective.
While in the US, the Writers’ Guild of America facilitate script registrations, our Writers’ Guild is
