Copyright 101

Copyrights protect expressions of ideas. Many things can be copyrighted: blog posts, websites, books, photos, videos, and so forth. As a creator, you have a copyright in whatever you write or create from the moment of creation, but you need to register your copyright with the Library of Congress to protect your rights (including enforce your copyright in court). If someone copies your work, distributes or sells or licenses it without your permission (and paying you), they’ve committed copyright infringement. You can sue them in court and get civil damages, get them to stop (an injunction), vindicate your copyright (with a declaratory judgment), and an infringer or pirate can also be liable criminally (the FBI and Interpol warnings at the start of each DVD). But to manage and protect your IP rights, you need a good copyright lawyer with experience who knows the copyright and IP landscape. I work with content creators to copyright their IP, as well as to manage IP rights, and defend clients’ copyrights from piracy and infringement online and in other forms.

My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, is experienced counseling individual, corporate, and nonprofit clients on entertainment law, copyright, trademark, and IP litigation issues. We work with authors, musicians, artists, photographers, bloggers, songwriters, filmmakers, and others to provide cutting edge, reliable expertise on IP. We can help you answer these questions with confidence and friendly expertise. If we can serve you with your entertainment law, copyright, or IP questions, please call (913-707-9220) or email (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2016, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.