Rights

What is copyright? What are subsidiary rights? How do I clear rights for illustrations or song lyrics in my book? We give you tips for understanding the rights landscape.

Know Your Rights

Understanding copyright
Using other people's work
Understanding licensing

Is Copyright Notice Required on Your Work to Protect Your Copyright?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Aug 22, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

Copyrights and Notice* on your work…

Copyright is a form of intellectual property law that protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture… and includes your text (i.e., story), images, photos, illustrations and audio/visual elements within the work.

A copyright notice lets the public know that a work is protected under copyright law and may not be copied, published, disseminated, displayed, performed, or played without permission of the copyright holder(s) except in accordance with fair use or licensed agreement.

While a notice is optional for works created after March 1, 1989, it is a good idea to place a notice on the work to indicate your claim of rights in the work.

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Are Separate Copyrights Needed to Protect Your Story and Illustrations?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Aug 1, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

Can one copyright protect your text, illustrations and photos?
The answer depends on who owns the rights to each element.

Copyrights can be confusing – especially if you have content elements in your book created by different creators or authors.

If you own all rights to the story (i.e., text) and illustrations, art and/or photos and they are packaged as one Work, then you can protect these elements on
one copyright application as your ‘Author Contribution’ (see Fig 1).

Fig 1: Sample screenshot of Author Contribution for ‘Text’, ‘Art’ and ‘Photos’

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Why Copyright Under Company Name vs. Individual Name?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Jul 11, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

Which is right for you? Company vs. Individual copyrights?

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that grants legal protection to the creators of original works, such as printed book, e-book, audiobook, video, photos, illustrations, pictures, songs, software and website.

Copyrighting material under a company name versus an individual name has some important differences and considerations. Here are a few reasons why you might copyright material under a company name:

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What Is “Work-for-Hire” Under Copyright Law?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Jun 13, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

Definitions

"Work-for-hire" is a term used in U.S. copyright law to describe a situation where the person or entity that commissions or pays to create a copyrighted work is considered the owner of the copyright, rather than the person who created the work.

There are two main types of work-for-hire:

• Commissioned work: Work (i.e., text article, photos, illustrations, sound recording, etc.) specifically commissioned or ordered for use as a contribution to a collective work, such as a book, e-book, audio-book, article or periodical, or as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, is considered a "work-for-hire" and the employer or commissioning party is considered the copyright owner.

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Did you know… There’s a BONUS for registering your copyright before you’re published?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue May 23, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

Common Questions

Does my work have to be published to be copyright protected?

No. Publication is not necessary for copyright protection. “Publication” is the distribution of copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.

Should I register my copyright before publication?

A recent Supreme Court ruling requires that you register copyrights before you can file a copyright infringement lawsuit for money damages! Registering ‘Unpublished’ also protects your ‘Published’ work*. Registering also creates a public record and makes it easier to defend your copyright.

BONUS for Registering ‘Unpublished’

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Is AI-Generated Content Copyrightable?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Wed Apr 12, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

If your book includes AI-generated images or text from Chat-GPT or other tools… can you copyright it?

The topic of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is front-and-center in the news, as Congress is considering new laws to regulate its use — and many ‘tech gurus’ like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak have advocated a temporary halt on artificial intelligence systems that are more powerful than GPT-4.

Despite these concerns, AI is becoming more prevalent and available to authors and creators… including ChatGPT plug-ins that enable writers to easily generate text. But will AI-generated content be copyrightable?

Is AI-generated content copyrightable?

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Is a Copyright Needed for Each ISBN?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Mar 21, 2023

CopyrightTips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

ISBN vs. Copyrights?

An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique numerical identifier assigned to each specific edition and format of a book, such as hardcover, paperback, e-book, audio-book, etc. It is used to identify and track books in the book industry. ISBNs may be purchased and maintained at Bowker's myidentifiers.com website.

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that grants legal protection to the creators of original works, such as printed book, e-book, audio-book, video, photos, illustrations, pictures, songs, software and website.

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What Is a Copyright?

by Digi-Rights
Bowker | Tue Feb 21, 2023

Copyright Tips from experts* at CopyrightsNow.com

You've written a book. Now what? How do you protect it from piracy? And what are your copyrights?

What is a Copyright?

A copyright is a form of legal protection granted to the creators of original works, such as printed book, e-book, audio-book, video, photos, illustrations, pictures, songs, software and website.

It gives the copyright holder the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, distribute, and display the work, as well as to create derivative works based on it.

Copyrights enable authors to make money by selling their work and preventing others from copying or selling their work without their permission or a license. This means that others cannot use, share or distribute the work without the copyright owner’s permission.

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Why You Should Avoid Traditional Publishing If You’re Planning a Series

by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Jul 19, 2022

Self-publishing a book can sound complicated, and I won’t lie to you, it is more work upfront for authors. However, it can also be lucrative for many reasons, and for many kinds of authors! I’d like to focus on one group in particular this time around: the series author.

We get a lot of authors that come to us when they’re ready to release a new book in their series, because they feel stuck. Typically this happens because they went through a publisher or publishing service for book one.

And feeling stuck comes from their lack of access to their first book, and they’re unsure how to navigate continuing the series.

So in an effort to bring some clarity to the situation, I want to cover some of the biggest hurdles we see for series authors and why self-publishing your book series from the get-go might be an option you want to consider.

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Planning an Audio Book? Consider these 3 Things!

by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue May 30, 2017

EBooks are everywhere these days. In fact, they’re so prevalent, it’s often easy to forget the “other” way to read books – by listening to them. Audio book lovers are passionate about their books. When you talk with them, you’ll probably hear that most can’t recall the last time they actually read a book word for word. In fact, some people listen to as many as five audio books each month – this is particularly common in people who spend long periods of time on the road, like over-the-road truck drivers. And you’ll also find that audio book lovers have a wide variety of tastes, listening to anything from world history to self-help and fiction.