Here is an example of a warning statement
is to make clear to readers that the work
that may be used on a published version of a
is copyrighted and may not be reproduced
stage play or screenplay:
without the copyright owner’s permission.
30 | THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
consist of the word “Copyright” or the ©
Caution: Professionals and amateurs are
symbol, followed by the copyright owner’s
hereby warned that this material is ful y
name and publication year—for example:
pro tected by copyright and is subject to
royalty. This play may not be used for stage
production (professional or amateur),
Copyright © Jack Webby 2018.
motion pictures, radio, television, public
reading, or mechanical or electronic repro-
However, if you really want to make it
duction, or for any other purpose without
clear that all aspects of your site are copy-
written permission of the copyright owner.
righted, you could use a notice like this:
Contact [ publisher’s name] at [ address]
“All website design, text, graphics, selection,
for information concerning licenses to
arrangement, and software are the copyright-
dramatize this material.
ed works of Jack Webby, © Copyright 2018.”
Some website owners are happy to permit
certain types of unauthorized copying while
Granting Permission to Use Excerpts
prohibiting others. To make it clear to Web
users what types of copying are permissible,
If you don’t mind if portions of your work are you can include a Creative Commons
copied and want to avoid having to formal y
license allowing the public to make free use
grant a license each time others want to do
of your material for certain purposes—for
so, you can include a state ment after the
example, noncommercial purposes with
copyright notice granting permission to copy attribution. To do this, you’re supposed
the work. This permission can be as broad or to include a Creative Commons logo on
narrow as you wish. For example:
your site, consisting of two “C”s within a
circle. Clicking on the logo or a plain text
Permission is hereby granted to reprint
hyperlink sends the user to a page on the
quotations from this work up to [ number]
Creative Commons website explaining
words in length provided that such quota-
how the license works. This is explained in
tions are not altered or edited in any way
detail on the Creative Commons website at
and provided that an appropriate credit line
https://creativecommons.org/license. These
and copyright notice are included.
Creative Commons licenses are discussed in
more detail in Chapter 14.
Online Works
Other Material on Copyright Page
There are no special requirements for the
Particularly in books, certain other types of
content of a website notice. It need only
material are commonly placed on the same
CHAPTER 2 | COPYRIGHT NOTICE | 31
page as the copyright notice, even though
You cannot reuse an ISBN once you’ve
they have nothing to do with copyright.
assigned it to a publication. You can save
any ISBNs you don’t use for future books.
ISBN or ISSN number
The fee you pay for your ISBNs is usually
An International Standard Book Number
a tax-deductible business expense. It is the
(ISBN) is a number preceded by the letters
publisher’s responsibility to assign numbers
ISBN. An ISBN is assigned to each book by to each published title and enter them on
its publisher under a system administered
the Bowker website. The ISBN should be
by the R.R. Bowker Co. The number
printed on the lower right-hand corner of
identifies the country of publication, the
the back of the book and on the book’s
publisher, and the title of the book itself. It
copyright page.
is designed to facilitate handling orders and
With your ISBN, you’ll also be able
keeping track of inventory by computer. The to get a bar code, which you’ll need. The
number has nothing to do with copyright
bar code graphically represents the ISBN
and has no official legal status. Although
number. It may be obtained from Bowker
not legally required, the ISBN is important or many other sources.
for cataloging and order fulfillment.
An eight-digit International Standard
If you intend to sell your book or other
Serial Number (ISSN) is utilized for serial
book-like publication in physical bookstores, publications such as magazines, periodicals, on Amazon.com or other online stores,
journals, newsletters, numbered monograph
through wholesalers, or to libraries, you
series, and so on. The ISSN should be printed
need to obtain an ISBN. On the other
on the same page as the copyright notice, in
hand, if you don’t intend to distribute your
the masthead area, or on the page containing
book in any of these ways, you don’t need
instructions for ordering the publication.
an ISBN. For example, you wouldn’t need
The ISSN program is administered by the
to obtain an ISBN if you wrote a book you
National Serials Data Program of the Library
planned to distribute solely at seminars or
of Congress. For more information about
other events.
how to obtain an ISSN, visit the Library of
If you’re a self-publisher, you’ll need to
Congress’s ISSN website at www.loc.gov/issn,
obtain an ISBN yourself. You can apply
call 202-707-6452, or email [email protected].
for an ISBN online at the ISBN agency’s
website (www.isbn.org). You must pay
Library of Congress Catalog Number
a fee to obtain an ISBN number. The
The Library of Congress will preassign
fee amount will depend on how many
a Library of Congress Catalog Number
numbers you order at one time. ISBNs
(LCCN) upon request. The LCCN is the
never expire and there are no renewal fees.
stock control number for the Library of
32 | THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
Congress’s records. The number is used by
How Many ISBNs Do You Need?
librarians for classification and ordering
purposes. According to the Library of
Ideal y, each edition of a book or other
Congress, the LCCN benefits publishers
publication should have a unique ISBN
because books with LCCNs are listed on a
number. According to Bowker, this al ows
computer database that alerts librarians of
for more efficient marketing of products
forthcoming publications and enables them
by booksellers, libraries, universities,
to select and promptly order new books.
> wholesalers, and distributors. Online retailers
Only U.S. publishers whose titles are
such as Amazon.com want publishers to
likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries
provide unique ISBNs for the print and
are eligible for the Cataloging in Publication
electronic editions of the books they sel .
(CIP) program. Book vendors, distribu-
Thus, for example, a book that is issued
tors, printers, production houses, and other
as a paperback, in electronic form, and as
publishing middlemen are ineligible. Self-
an audiobook should have three different
publishers—authors and editors who pay
ISBN numbers. Moreover, if a book is
for or subsidize publication of their own
published and distributed in two or more
works—and publishers who specialize in
different file formats—for example, epub
publishing one or two authors are ineligible.
and PDF—each format should have its own
To obtain an LCCN you must first estab-
ISBN. Future editions of the same book
lish a file or an account with the Library of
should also be given unique ISBNs.
Congress. Thereafter, to obtain an LCCN
you must file a CIP data sheet for each title
you publish. You can obtain CIPs electroni-
cally through the Library of Congress CIP
website at www.loc.gov/publish/cip. It takes Copyright Notice on
about two weeks to obtain a CIP.
Unpublished Manuscripts
The LCCN should be printed on the
It has never been necessary to place a copy-
reverse of the title page, which is usually the right notice on an unpublished manuscript, page where the copyright notice is placed
and doing so will not prevent an infringer
on books. There is no charge for an LCCN, from raising the innocent infringement
but a complimentary copy of the book
defense. However, it does not seem likely
must be sent to the CIP Division after it is
that a copier could convince a judge or
published. This is in addition to the copies
jury that his or her infringement of an un-
furnished to the Copyright Office as part
published manuscript was innocent if the
of the registration process. (See Chapter 3,
manuscript contained a copyright notice. In
“Copyright Registration.”)
addition, as with published works, placing a
CHAPTER 2 | COPYRIGHT NOTICE | 33
copyright notice on an unpublished manu-
Other distributions of
script may help to deter potential infringers. unpublished manuscripts
It is sensible to place a copyright notice
Manuscripts sent to book and
on your unpublished manuscript before
magazine publishers
sending it to persons other than publishers
Literary agents and editors advise against
or editors. For example, you might want to
placing a copyright notice on a manuscript
include a notice on a manuscript that you
you submit to a book or magazine publisher. intend to send to a colleague (or colleagues) Publishers and editors are aware of the
to read. It is impossible to know just who
copyright laws and know that unpublished
will get their hands on your manuscript
manuscripts are copyrighted whether or not once it leaves your possession. The notice
they have a notice. Placing a notice on your might deter a potential infringer.
manuscript makes you look like an amateur
who doesn’t understand the rules of the
Form of notice
publishing game.
A copyright notice for an unpublished
The one exception to this rule is where
manu script should be in one of the
all or part of the material in the manuscript following forms:
has been previously published or will be
published. In this event, you should state
Copyright © by John Smith (This work is
at the bottom of the title page where the
unpublished.)
publication took place and include a notice
for that publication.
or
EXAMPLE: Nora Zorba has written a book
on Greek cooking. A portion of chapter
Copyright © by John Smith (Work in progress)
three was previously published as an article
in Culinary Magazine. Nora should state
at the bottom of the title page of her
You should not include a date in such
manuscript: “Portions of Chapter Three
a notice, because the date on a copyright
originally published in Culinary Magazine,
notice denotes the date of publication.
December 2018. Copyright © 2018 by
l
Culinary Publications.”
C H A P T E R
Copyright Registration
3
What Is Copyright Registration? .......................................................................................................38
Why Register? ...............................................................................................................................................38
Registration Is a Prerequisite to Infringement Suits ........................................................38
Benefits of Timely Registration ..................................................................................................39
What Is Timely Registration? .......................................................................................................40
Online Works ....................................................................................................................................... 41
Registration Deters Infringement..............................................................................................42
What Can and Should Be Registered .............................................................................................42
Published Works .................................................................................................................................42
Unpublished Works ..........................................................................................................................42
Who Can Register? .....................................................................................................................................43
Ownership by the Author(s) ........................................................................................................43
Registration by Publishers and Other Transferees ...........................................................44
Registration as a Single Unit ................................................................................................................46
Works Containing Photographs or Artwork .......................................................................46
Artwork, Photos, and Promotional Copy on Book Dust Jackets or Covers .......48
Introductions, Prefaces, Bibliographies, Indexes, and Similar Items ......................49
Anthologies, Newspapers, Magazines, and Other Periodicals ..................................50
How Many Times to Register a Single Unit of Publication ..........................................50
Registering Derivative Works and Compilations ..................................................
..................52
Derivative Works ................................................................................................................................52
Compilations ........................................................................................................................................54
How to Register ...........................................................................................................................................54
Option 1: Online Registration .....................................................................................................54
Option 2: Registration Using Paper Forms ...........................................................................55
Online Copyright Registration ...........................................................................................................55
Which Works Qualify for Online Registration? ................................................................55
How to Register Online ..................................................................................................................56
Payment .................................................................................................................................................. 61
36 | THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
Deposit Requirements ..................................................................................................................... 61
Certificate of Registration .............................................................................................................62
Registering Using Form TX and Other Paper Application Forms ................................62
Registering Newspapers, Magazines, Newsletters, and Other Periodicals:
Form SE, Form SE/Group, Form G/DN ......................................................................................62
Introduction .........................................................................................................................................62
Group Registration of Serials .......................................................................................................63
First Submission for a Particular Serial ..................................................................................65
Group Registration for Newspapers ........................................................................................67
Group Registration for Newsletters .........................................................................................68
Form GR/PPh/CON for Photographs ......................................................................................69
The Copyright Handbook Page 7