If you’re looking for inspiration for 2023, check out Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of Public Domain. As of today, works published in 1927 have entered the public domain and Duke has provided a list of them.
Copyright causes a lot of confusion and questions among artists. Check out our publisher’s podcast playlist on Spotify featuring seven hours of collated info on copyright. Click here
Don’t need that much choice? Let us direct you to James Scott Bell, writer and lawyer. Some of the Parisian Phoenix staff have worked with Bell at the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group The Write Stuff Conference more than a decade ago. Listen here to Bell on The Novel Marketing Podcast on Spotify or check it out on the Author Media web site.
Simply put, as best we understand it, and we are artists not lawyers, a writer automatically owns the copyright to their work. And it’s important to have records, and files, and communication that chronicle the work as yours. In the United States, and United States copyright is recognized in most countries, you can file for copyright registration which can cost $47 and up depending on the type of work. This is done online through the Library of Congress. No need to use an outside service.
Copyright registration provides more financial damages on your behalf if you were to win a copyright infringement lawsuit and simplifies the process of proving it’s your work in question. Copyright also means your work ends up in the registration database at the Library of Congress, so if you want to leave a legacy or make sure researchers may someday find you, it may be worth the investment.
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