..

Thank You Cher, that was a very valuble tip. We really appreciate you sharing your professional tips with us. I would like to add that even though Chers work is copyrighted and she has shared many building techniques with us. This means that this information is for you to use and help better understand and develop your own style of building techniques. It does not mean that you can build a replica and sell it. I'm not much worried there , for Cher has a unique talent that no one is capable of reproducing, but just in case a copyright " is a good thing. " As Martha Stewert would say.

Billy D.

Thanks for the info Cher!

I seem to remember reading somewhere (here? Puptcrit?) that one person would batch her work before sending it into the copyright office. Rather than sending in one of her scripts she would collect them into a book and copyright ten or twelve scripts or stories at a time. I'm not sure if you could copyright groups or sets of puppets, or if each puppet individually requires its own $45 fee and application. I'll do some more reading to see if it says anything about that anywhere.

These pages have more info on exactly what needs to be submitted for visual art works...

http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40a.html

 

Ron G.

The law here in the UK and EU is different from the US, although equally subject to International Law and the copyright, publishing licencing laws and trademarking laws are a minefield.  (Trust me on this one I worked in publishing for a long time)

For those in the UK the following organisation can provide help and advice if you are interested in copyrighting. 
http://www.dacs.org.uk/

They are a membership organisation and probably charge fees but the site looks very helpful and they have pdf files of introductions to law and process.

Some of the copyright laws in the UK actually seem to be more lenient that the current batch in the US, though apparently people are trying to make them tougher over there now, too. The more I read the more complicated it seems.

 

Ron G.

The original message in this thread seems to be gone.  I only see ..

Does anyone know what it said?

Thanks

Sorry that information was lost. The original poster decided they wanted to remove all their post on the forum.

Maybe this will help.................... Just start from the begining 

http://www.copyright.gov/
Billy D.

Now this is on my to do list as well! Thanks for those links!

I was referred to a site once after I asked how to copyright a personality. It the US trademark place. http://www.uspto.gov/teas/ TEAS, they call it.

I am certain it is different and that it will take time. I gotta get on that.

I was told once that anything you write is automatically your intelectual property and therefore copyrighted.  I had assumed that this was also true of things that you build.  From this discussion I gather that that is not necessarily true.

How necessary/important is it to copyright your creations and how complicated and costly is the process?