Copyright - a question for Neil, really.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Hello,

I was just wondering if you (Neil) would allow a thread (this one) to be used by creative efesters to time and date stamp some of their original written and artistic ideas, so that they were protected by copyright? I'll grant you that I haven't thought this through, and am shooting directly from the hip with this one, so don't know if there are any pitfalls.

If there weren't pitfalls, then I think it would provide an excellent service to and for efesters.

Thoughts?

PS - I guess people could just email themselves to do this. does anybody know?

[eFestivals]

How you prove the date of creation to the satisfaction of the legal world is an area of copyright I've never put any consideration into - so below are just some quick thoughts on it.

I'd say it's not a great idea for 3rd parties to use here, because your proof would be dependent on the continuation of efests. If efests dies then so does your proof.

Also, efestivals has its own rights in law towards copyright for what it publishes and what it publishes includes what you post here - so in theory you'd be giving efestivals some sort of copyright claim over your work (perhaps shared copyright?). I don't have the first idea how that actually works out in legal practice but i think it's something you should look into before using someone else's platform as the basis for copyright proof.

(for anyone else reading this, I can't ever see efestivals actively claiming copyright of what you post here - and anyway, there's various other rules in the mix such as privacy rules and a right to deletion. I'm highlighting a legal aspect towards yog's question).

I think the traditional standard cheap way of doing it is to post a copy of the work to yourself and keep it unopened, tho I could be wrong about that.

Your email suggestion is much the same - although there might be issues with that, because again you'd be using a 3rd party platform which (in theory) has a copy of what it has received and passed on.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

How you prove the date of creation to the satisfaction of the legal world is an area of copyright I've never put any consideration into - so below are just some quick thoughts on it.

I'd say it's not a great idea for 3rd parties to use here, because your proof would be dependent on the continuation of efests. If efests dies then so does your proof.

Also, efestivals has its own rights in law towards copyright for what it publishes and what it publishes includes what you post here - so in theory you'd be giving efestivals some sort of copyright claim over your work (perhaps shared copyright?). I don't have the first idea how that actually works out in legal practice but i think it's something you should look into before using someone else's platform as the basis for copyright proof.

(for anyone else reading this, I can't ever see efestivals actively claiming copyright of what you post here - and anyway, there's various other rules in the mix such as privacy rules and a right to deletion. I'm highlighting a legal aspect towards yog's question).

I think the traditional standard cheap way of doing it is to post a copy of the work to yourself and keep it unopened, tho I could be wrong about that.

Your email suggestion is much the same - although there might be issues with that, because again you'd be using a 3rd party platform which (in theory) has a copy of what it has received and passed on.

Hello Neil,

Thanks ever so much for responding. Much food for thought in your words. I knew that the old way I was told of (back in the early 1980's) was to send a copy of your work to yourself recorded delivery. However, presumably anybody could send themselves umpteen recorded delivery envelopes, and just steam them open, and pop stuff in to them at a later date.

I guess the best bet would be to send them in to a publisher on line for their consideration, so that they have a time / date stamped record of you having done so, as well as your own file copy. I doubt any reputable publishing houses would have the gall to claim some sort of copyright.

Anyway, as I said in my OP, I was really shooting from the hip on this one. I'll look in to it today in greater detail.

Thanks once again.

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

 

Got it. It's all here - somewhere!

https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/copyright

 

[jump]

One of the possible problems with the OP theory is that you are posting under usernames rather than real names. I once attended an artist Q&A session once and they mentioned if you looking to break into the industry don't try to use pen/fake names as there's extra steps that make it more complicated to protect your work and they were stiffed on payments over it.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, jump said:

One of the possible problems with the OP theory is that you are posting under usernames rather than real names. I once attended an artist Q&A session once and they mentioned if you looking to break into the industry don't try to use pen/fake names as there's extra steps that make it more complicated to protect your work and they were stiffed on payments over it.

Hello jump,

I don't know how I missed that one about real names and user names. Doh!  thanks for the extra info as well.