Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection, which gives the owner of an original creative work, such as a book, play, or piece of music, the right to prevent others from reproducing or copying a substantial part of their work.
The specific rules and laws governing copyright vary from country to country, but in general a copyrightable work, such as a book, is protected by copyright laws as soon as it is fixed in some sort of material form.
In other words, as soon as you have typed up the first draft of your manuscript, it is protected under copyright law, but an idea you have in your head for a book is not.
Regardless of where you live, you do not need to officially register your book for copyright. Tellwell will add a standard copyright disclaimer, including the © symbol and the year the work is published when we create the initial interior design layout for each book, which attributes the rights for the content of the book to the author.
This in most cases will be all you need to enjoy copyright protection, especially if you live outside of Canada or the US; countries like the UK and Australia do not have national copyright registries. If you live in Canada or the US, registering your work your national copyright registry is completely optional, but can be beneficial. Click here to learn more.
As outlined in section 9 of our Terms and Conditions, our authors retain 100% of all right, title, and interest in and to the manuscript and its contents at all times, including all copyrights, trademarks, derivative rights, and other intellectual property associated with it.
In turn, the author takes sole responsibility for the content of the manuscript. This means that just as you expect others not to copy and reproduce significant portions of your book without permission, you must in turn ensure that you have obtained the necessary permissions if you choose to include the work of others in your book.
Tellwell is not able to offer legal advice, and so in all cases where an author has concerns about copyright infringement or the potential for other legal action, we recommend seeking out professional advice from a qualified legal advisor.
It is important to note the following excerpt from our Terms:
The Author takes full responsibility for the content of the work being published and represents and warrants the following to Tellwell:
(i) Author is the sole author of the work and the sole owner of the copyright in the work; Author either is the sole owner of the copyright in any associated cover or interior graphics supplied by Author for the work or has secured written permission to use the same in the work; and Author has full power, authority and right to enter into this Agreement and to grant the rights herein granted;
(ii) This Agreement does not conflict with any arrangements, understandings, or agreements between Author and any other person or entity;
(iii) The work will not violate or infringe upon any rights of any other person or entity, including, without limitation, copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret rights, other intellectual property rights, contract rights, privacy rights, or publicity rights; and
(iv) The work is not defamatory, slanderous, libelous, or obscene, or in any other way illegal; and any recipes, formulae, instructions, or recommendations contained in the work are not and will not be injurious to any reader, user, or any third person.
Related Articles: