Listening to people talk about copyright laws, that do not have an
authentic knowledge of copyright, is obnoxious. Copyright gives you five
primary rights (1) the right to reproduce, (2) the right to distribute,
(3) the right to prepare derivative works, (4) the right to perform
publicly, and (5) the right to display publicly. There's a sixth.
However, it deals with sound recordings, and it is not pertinent to this
rant. These five rights can be divided up into as many pieces and
licensed (sold) to as many entities as the copyright owner desires. When
a film studio buys an option to start a new Marvel comic franchise,
they are initially buying a piece of that third right listed above.
In order to obtain copyright protection, one must simply produce a work
of authorship in a tangible medium. The MOMENT it is created and fixed
in a tangible medium, the work is protected by copyright. This means
that an individual does not need to register a work of authorship to
obtain copyright protection of their work. Unless it is a "work for
hire," the work is protected by copyright for the life of the author
plus 70 years (work for hire=95 years after publication, or 120 years
after creation, whichever comes first).
Now, if you want to
register a work of authorship, the only way to do so is through the U.S.
Copyright Office. Mailing it to yourself (the so-called "Poor Man's
Copyright,") uploading it to a website, "registering" the work with
another entity, etc., etc. does not provide legal registration or
additional protection whatsoever. These methods can be used to help
prove that a work of authorship was in fact created and fixed in a
tangible medium at a particular date, but otherwise they are useless.
Once again, a work of authorship is protected by copyright the moment it
is fixed into a tangible medium, so anyone that says, "By doing x (with
our site/organization,) your work will be protected by copyright" is
full of it. You know they are full of it, because your work was
protected by copyright before their gibberish was solicited. In fact,
for anyone to claim that you will receive copyright protection or
registration BY uploading something to their site, could be sued for
false representation.
I could go on and on. Nonetheless, those
are the basics, and I'm sure Wikipedia, the U.S. Copyright Office's
website, and a variety of additional sources will confirm my little
breakdown. Have a delightful day.
P.S. "Fair Use (Section 107),"
does not mean that an individual has not infringed on copyright. No,
Fair Use means that a person HAS infringed upon an owner's copyright. In
other words, Fair Use is a defense for legal copyright infringement. However, one can never truly know if Fair Use applies until a court
utilizes a four-prong test and decides whether Fair Use is applicable or
not. If you ever see a YouTube video/anything that says, "This work is
protected under Fair Use," it is generally an indication that the person
making that statement does not know what they are talking about.
Reference: Bernstein, Gregory. Understanding the Business of Entertainment: The Legal and Business Essentials All Filmmakers Should Know. New York, Focal Press, 2015. Print.