<<snipp>>
Canadian copyright law (may be the same for the US, don't know) also
requires the copyright owner to *prove* that he owns it. Therefore if you do
not have any kind of official record of your story on hand at said court
trial, the copyright infringer can claim ownership. In Canada (might be
simliar in
the US) you can obtain an official record of proof of ownership a few ways.
VERY similar
Taken from "The Business of Writing" by Dyanne Rivers:
"The easiest and least expensive is to place your manuscript in a sealed
envelope, and send it to yourself by registered mail. When you recieve it
DO NOT OPEN IT. Leave the seal intact and file it in a safe place, along
with the registration reciepts. In the unlikely event that you end up in
court fighting a copyright battle, the envelope must be opened before the
judge."
In the US, this is MORE effective if you seal it, have a witness sign over
the seal of the envelope, and then mail it to yourself. The postmark
establishes the date, but it does NOT establish ownership - However, if the
date of the postmark is prior to the earliest version the infringer can
document, you will have a pretty good case. The witnesses signature over
the seal helps to provide means of tamper prevention.
Alternatively, you can take a copy of the work to a Notary Public, and have
it notarized - the notary will initial each page, then stamp and sign it.
Place the notarized copy in a safe place - (say, a safe deposit box) and
there you are. It does NOT matter if the notary read the thing, just that
s/he can testify to the authenticity of thi initials, and the signature.
"For a fee, you can also register a work with the federal government through
the copyright office of the Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada. However,
going to this trouble and expense may be of limited use because this office
doesn't keep a copy of your manuscript. If you wish to go ahead
nevertheless, contact the Copyright Office and Industrial Design Branch,
Place du Portage, Tower 1, Hull, Quebec K1A 0C9."
Now in the States, this option is the preferred one, and it does NOT
require an attorney - You can fill out the appropriate forms yourself, and
send them in witht he required fee - $20 bux I think it is, but you can
contact the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress to be sure. And
they DO maintain a copy of the manuscript in the archives.
<<snipp>>
By sending it to them, without guarantee of payment, you agree to give
them distribution rights and waive your copyright... But they have to
send you notice of this in advance. If they've made a written agreement
to pay you IF the fic is used, then you waive your copyright at the time
of payment. This company informally stated that $100 or so would be
paid if the fic was published, so they aren't REQUIRED to pay you unless
you get a legal document. If they post it at a later date, you're still
entitled to the money. Once you accept payment, it's theirs.
The freelance writer's first rule is NEVER GIVE UP YOUR COPYRIGHT.
Any aspiring *freelance* author of original works should be aware that you
do not *have* to waive your copyrights at any time. As a freelance writer,
you in effect, should make it clear in any contract you sign FOR AN ORIGINAL
WORK that you are granting *only* a licence to a publisher to use your
copyright under specific conditions, rather than selling it outright. Then,
if the publisher or someone else wants to reprint or adapt all or even a
portion of your work, you can expect to be compensated for your work.
Bingo!
So how can Nippon Heroes require that you waive your rights?
They do not. According to the guidelines Jeanne posted, they buy First
North American Serial Rights only.
The exception to the rule occurs when submitting a story that uses copyright
protected characters and idea expressions. If you wish to submit an
anime-based story to a fanzine that uses characters from Ranma, BGC, Oh! My
Goddess etc., you should be aware that your copyright to the expression of
ideas in the story is "linked" to the copyright of the characters. Unless
you were to rewrite the story with original characters and settings, your
copyright to an anime-based fanfic is never entirely yours.
Also true - and a very important point.
As an example, the writer's guidelines posted by TSR for their Dragon
magazine (a Dungeons & Dragons publication that accepts fan-fiction) states
that they must purchase ALL RIGHTS to any story that is submitted "that
focuses on and uses TSR's products. You must agree to sell us all rights to
such a manuscript before we can make plans to print it."
Keeping in mind that TSR owns the rights to the TSR products in question,
and does not have to secure license from a third party. Is their stuff,
and they basically will require you to sign over ALL rights to your part in
the story - this makes your fanfic effectively a "Work for Hire" under US
copyright law, and you forfeight all rights to future sales and residual
income.
Paramount does the same thing with their Star Trek novels - They own all
the rights to the stories, though the copyright notice in the book still
bears the author's name, the author has no further say in the matter -
Though these authors are more often paid based on sales rather than a flat
sum.
Nippon Heroes has probably (I have not checked) obtained an annual blanket
licence that allows them to publish fanfiction that uses copyright protected
anime-based characters and/or settings. Here are their guidelines for Fan
Fiction:
I doubt this - such a license would be prohibitively complex, and have to
be obtained on EACH anime for which they might publish a fan fiction - and
those rights are hard to come by. I doubt they have the budget for it.
The best you could hope for in blanket terms anyway was a license for all
of the animes from a particular studio/publisher/author.
----------
"Submissions of fan fiction (anime related short stories based on original or
known characters) are being accepted. We are looking for short stories
between 2,500 and 5,000 words, with exceptional quality in writing skill,
character integrity and story telling. All stories must have an ending. NO
SERIES or SEQUELS will be permitted. Ten (10) free copies of the published
issue and a 'NIPPON HEROES' t-shirt are given for accepted work. We
automatically acknowledge the original owners of the characters used as well
as place a disclaimer on every 'fan-fictional' work."
----------
Their "automatic acknowledgement of the original owners of the characters"
is probably the blanket licence. Therefore, if you wish to send them your
anime fanfic then the exception to the "first rule" applies; if Nippon
Heroes were to agree to pay you for your anime fanfiction work, you would
have to sell all of your rights to your story to them. If this isn't a
problem, and the guidelines that Neill has reiterated seem acceptable to
you, then by all means send in your story. Seeing a work published is a
gratifying and confidence building experience. Just be aware that this is an
exception to the rule, due to the publication you are submitting your work
to, and the characters you are
using.
No - this does not constitute license - and please note - they are NOT
paying money for fanfics - not according to their guidelines - the monetary
renumeration stipulated was for articles. For fanfics, its triber copies
and a t-shirt. You are NOT selling them the rights to your story - you are
not selling them anything - they are just agreeing to publish the story.
Legally speaking, they are still on thin ice with this - I would hope that
they have consulted an attorney on the matter, 'cause they can get a whole
heap o' grief if they haven't. Odds are, they are relying on the fanzine
tradition to protect themselves, in concert with the disclaimer and the
fact that they are NOT "paying" for the stories. It may work, but they are
obviosly a "for profit" venture, so if any of the copyright holders want to
squawk, they can.
Most magazines that accept freelance fiction material will usually have
Writer's Guidelines that you can mail away for. These are definitely
recommended reading for authors who have something they want to submit.
First impressions are very important to publishers so be sure your story is
properly formatted and presentable. It could easily make the difference
between acceptance and getting a form letter back.
Sore wa honto desu!
Anyone wishing to learn the basics on what they need to know to write
professionally in Canada (many good ideas for writers regardless of where
they live actually) should check out the book I quoted from earlier.
The ISBN number is:
0-07-551638-1
Rivers, Dyanne
The Business of Writing: A guide for Canadian Writers and Editors
Panda
In the US, contact
Writer's Digest Books
1507 Dana Avenue
Cincinnati OH 45207
513/531-8250
and ask for a catalog - they have one of the biggest selections on writing
how to's and how NOT to's in the US.
Zen-
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[[ James Bateman (Otaku@nashville.com) ]]
[[ -The experiment has begun - A million monkeys at a million keyboards- ]]
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