copyright question?

Question

im trying to copyright a story for manga but it is not finish yet.
i want to copyright it by volumes (10 chapters each)instead of the whole story at once. can i do this?

another question is would i have to add pictures or can i just do it with the story since i dont have a artist right now

Answer 1

Wow, one really REALLY bad answer and on kinda right answer. Yes, the second you place pen to paper you have created a copyrightable intellectual property. The problem with the above answer however is how would you prove in a court of law WHEN you put pen to paper. The easiest and least expensive way to copyright something is to make copies for everything you do and mail it to yourself. As long as you do not open the envelope the "post marked on" will serve as your copyright date.

Other than that you can go through proper US copyright procedures....

Answer 2

All you have to do to be protected is put a "c" with a circle around it. That is all you have to do. If you want full protection you will need to submit the volumes seperately or all at once it doesn't matter. Doing it all at once will be cheaper but, you can do them one at a time. You will have to go to copyright.gov and fill out the forms and pay the fees. This is the best way to do it because then you are fully protected by the U.S. government. Otherwise to be pretty protected all you have to do is put a "c" with a circle around it and you are protected to an extent. I hope this helps, good luck and take care..

Answer 3

Yeah... I'm not to sure where the above poster got that idea from, but assuming you are in the U.S. you do not need to "put a c and circle it" on your work. Copyright in the U.S. is automatic, and occurs the second you put down your original ideas in a tangible form. So, once you right one page for your manga, and it is your original work, you have copyright protection.

Now, there is a formal process of copyright protection which offers many benefits (eg, serve as prima facie evidence against infringment as well as seek statutory damanges), but you need not apply for it to recieve protection against infringement.