A copyright is a wonderful thing, but it has its limits. Remember, your registered copyright protects only your intellectual property. So what falls outside of that protection? Can you add additional safeguards to your work? Don’t fret, friends. Today, we’ll look at what copyrights don’t cover, how trademarks benefit your brand, and where public domain and fair use come into play.
What Does a Copyright Not Cover?
Some things don’t qualify as intellectual property, so copyrights won’t protect them. For example, if you’re writing a cookbook or a recipe blog, a copyright will not protect your recipes. According to US law, a recipe is a mathematical formula. You can’t protect a formula. However, you can protect your stories associated with those recipes. That’s why you still want to register your cookbooks or blog posts.
Websites have a similar issue. You cannot get a copyright for a website. However, you can register the content from the website. All of your photos, infographics, videos, artwork, blog posts, and other text are copyrightable—just not the site itself.
Enter Trademarks
If you’re a small-business owner or author, you’ve built a brand. Your copyright won’t help protect your brand, but a trademark will.
Trademarks are symbols, works, or words legally registered or established by use as a representation of a company or product. Of course, there are different kinds of trademarks, but what’s more important is how you can use them to protect your brand. You want your readers and customers to think of you, not your competitors, when they see a certain name or symbol. That’s why we use trademarks to protect business or brand names, program names, logos, course names, series names, catchphrases, distinctive costumes, or signature sounds.
Potential Ownership Pitfall
Watch out for work-for-hire content. How the contract is worded can have a huge impact on your rights. Depending on your agreement, either the creator or purchaser could own the copyright for the work.
Small-business owners, think about your outsourced work. Logo designs, event photography, marketing materials—anything you work on with a freelancer or subcontractor is a potential issue for copyright infringement. Your contracts should specify you as the copyright owner or allow for your use of the contractor’s copyrighted material. Your business’s employment contracts may even need a section dedicated to this. Does the company or its employees own the material generated by employees while they’re on the clock?
Authors, you face the same issue. If you hire an illustrator, graphic designer, or ghostwriter, it’s very important to include a section related to ownership in your contract. Will the service provider get the rights, or will you, the buyer? Be clear about ownership up front before beginning work, then keep that contract on file.
Works in the Public Domain
A copyright lasts for the author’s lifetime, plus seventy years. After that, if the registration isn’t renewed, the work enters the public domain. All the legal protections for that work are gone. People are free to reproduce and incorporate that work into their own.
The public domain is a fantastic source of creative springboards or inspiration for authors. That’s how we ended up with things like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Muppet Christmas Carol, or the recent Winnie-the-Pooh horror movie.
But small businesses can benefit as well. If you have a limited marketing budget, use graphics, images, or illustrations from the public domain for your brochures, flyers, and websites. Repurpose material from public domain books or articles for your content marketing. Modify product designs or concepts as the basis for a new offering from your company. The public domain is an amazing resource that’s worth exploring. To check out what’s entered the public domain recently, see the American Writers Museum or the Public Domain Review.
Fair Use Doctrine
Even if you register a copyright, people can still use or borrow from your protected work. The fair use doctrine allows for the use of portions of copyrighted material without the permission of the owner if these conditions are met:
- The use is fair and reasonable.
- It does not substantially impair the value of the material.
- It does not curtail the profits reasonably expected by the owner.
With fair use, you’ll want to provide an attribution, comment, or citation referencing where the borrowed material came from. You’re not stealing someone’s work or plagiarizing here. Crediting the original source lends you credibility and shows that you did your research, play nicely with others, have integrity, and abide by the law.
A word of caution, though—even if you provide a citation, you can still run into trouble if you borrow too much of a protected work. This is particularly tricky when it comes to using song lyrics. Every publishing lawyer I’ve talked to has given me the same advice: either don’t use lyrics at all, get permission to use them, or only use songs in the public domain.
Additional Resources
If you want to take a deeper dive into copyrighting, check out these resources:
- United States Copyright Office resources
- United States Patent and Trademark Office copyright basics
- Copyright Alliance
- Independent Book Publishers Association Copyright Resource Center
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute overview of copyright law
Takeaways
By understanding the limits of your registered copyright, you can take additional steps to protect your brand and grow your business. Make sure your contracts with employees, freelancers, and subcontractors have a section dedicated to ownership. Be very clear on who will own the copyright and how the work can be used. Consider applying for trademarks to help shield your brand. Plus, feel free to use work from the public domain. It’ll save you time, effort, and money, so see what’s out there that can help you. And if you need to use someone else’s work, follow the fair use doctrine.
With the combined power of copyrights, trademarks, public domain, and fair use doctrine behind you, you can create amazing works—and safeguard them. If you want even more protection for your writing projects, contact me! I’d love to learn about your project and show you how editing can help make your writing bulletproof!