Copyrighting content published online under pen-name

April 9, 2008 7:09 AM

If I publish short story / prose under a pen-name online (e.g. on a blog) with appropriate copyright notice in the blog (e.g. (C) [pen-name e-mail address]), would it be enough to protect its copyright until I formally publish it in a (real) book?

I plan on publishing some content in a real book someday. I am posting the content currently under a pen-name on a blog, with an appropriate copyright notice with the pen-name e-mail address. Would this be sufficient to protect the copyright until I decide to get the content published? Should I be copyrighting that content under my real name from now on in order to do this?

posted by manish to law & government (6 comments total)

No copyright notice is necessary to protect your copyright. That went out about 35 years. Ago. You're fine. Registration has benefits, but unless you plan to do that you don't have to do anything -- not even a notice.
posted by The Bellman at 7:18 AM on April 9

Let me be a little less flip (and correct a typo): Notice is a good idea since it eliminates certain defenses in an infringement action, but is not required by law and has not been since March 1, 1989 (20 years, not 35). Your notice is fine for those purposes -- it doesn't have to state your real name. I don't know what was up with my making "Ago" a separate sentence. No coffee yet, maybe?
posted by The Bellman at 7:31 AM on April 9

The Bellman is right on. Your work has copyright protection already, and you don't need to put a notice on it (although it is prudent to do so). What you don't have is a copyright registration. There's no reason to wait though, filing is ridiculously easy and a good thing to have. You can save a few bucks by registering a collection of works instead of individual stories.
posted by quarterframer at 9:17 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]

Also see here about filing with a pen name.

Depending on your approach, you may want to use Copyscape to search for uses of your site, or use a Creative Commons license.

It's dependent on you to track down and resolve issues of anyone copying your work. The Copyscape page has some good info on this as well.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 11:24 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]

Also, if you ever want to publish one of these stories in a magazine or journal of some sort, you might not want to post them on the blog (particularly if it has a substantial number of readers). A lot of places won't take previously published work, and that includes stuff that has appeared online.
posted by Hypocrite_Lecteur at 12:53 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]

Thank you all. That was helpful. :)
posted by manish at 6:43 PM on April 10