TWCL

[chay]

I want to know if anyone can suggest a copright solution for me.
I know once you self publish it is pretty much your property, but I see many comics with the copy right logo.
should I get this? and will it cover all my work on a particular strip I'm doing?
I live in canada so I'm sure copyright laws may be different.
thanks if anyone can help.
www.apocalypseharry.com/[/url]

[Kail]

Some links for you:

Wikipedia entry on copyright law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Canada
(EDIT: most of that's pretty boring, probably what you're after are the sections on "Protected Works," "Rights Conferred," and "Stakeholders" to tell you who does what)

CIPO (the office which handles copyright in Canada)
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/Home
They have a FAQ under the copyrights section you might want to check out.
Also handy on their page is their guide to copyrights:
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/vwapj/2010guidedroitsdauteur-2010guidecopyrights-eng.pdf/$file/2010guidedroitsdauteur-2010guidecopyrights-eng.pdf
(EDIT: CIPO is the organization you submit your copyright to. You can do it by mail if you want, or there's a link to an online registration form on their website if you go to the "copyright" section; mailing it in costs $65.00, while using the online form is $50.00)


In general, you own the copyright to your work the instant you create it (as long as you are creating copyright-able work), but registering the copyright makes it easier to enforce it if there's a dispute. The little C logo doesn't mean much anymore, it's been kind of pointless to put it on your work since about 1989, but some people use it anyways just to remind everyone not to copy their stuff.

Note that copyright and trademark are different, though. You do need to register trademark stuff if you want the trademark.