No, no, I wasn’t caught by a teacher and trying to cover my ass.
Say that I have a free site where I put my stories without having to go through all that Fictionpress.com stuff. If someone copy/pastes my story or the majority of it and puts it on Fictionpress.com or, posts it on their own website without giving me credit to it, what are my rights as to asking him to take it down? Can he/she basically say, “I don’t want to”?
IANAL - This would definitely be a civil law matter. If someone violates your copyright in this way, it would be up to you to sue them to make them stop. You’d probably have more luck by going to the owners of the site and telling them about the copyright violation, providing that you can prove your allegations.
Is my work automatically copyrighted as soon as I put it on my site?
How would I go about proving it?
Because the Internet isn’t particular to one country, under what law would it fall under? The nationality of those involved?
I’m assuming you’re in America here, so here is the US Copyright office’s FAQ page
Hope it helps.
Yes. Any work is automatically copyrighted the moment it is created.
A lawyer or someone who looks like a lawyer would have to answer 2 & 3.
A nitpick, but doesn’t the copyright extend from the moment of publication, not creation? Not particularly relevant in this case, since posting something on a web page is considered “publication” in the eyes of the law. But in principle, if someone keeps a private diary and hides it in the attic, and their grandchildren discover it 80 years later and send out copies in the family newsletter, I think that the date of copyright extends from when the grandkids send it out, not from when the diary was actually written.
Also, even though copyright is automatic, it’s still recommended to include a declaration of copyright. If I recall correctly, either way, you can force someone else to stop using it against your permission, but if you want to claim any monetary damages, you need the declaration.
Already answered, but note that, in the US, in order to collect money (and have the infringer pay for your legal costs), you need to register your copyright. If you don’t, you can only force the person to take down the material and can only get actual damages – which are hard to prove.
Drafts, hard copies, dates on the file (in other words, once you see the infringement, don’t update your web page). Most importantly, a registered copyright from the copyright office.
Most countries are signatories of the Berne Convention, which recognizes copyright across borders. The action would probably have to take place in the country that houses the server, but if you work is copyrighted in the US, then other countries are required to recognize this.
Under today’s law, copyright entails from the moment of creation, not publication.
There are rules for copyright periods for work that was created, but not published, before the current law went into effect. A chart can be found here.
No, this is also wrong. No declaration of copyright has been needed since 1989. You can register your copyright to get statutory damages and attorney’s fees, but you can still claim all proven damages even if your work is not registered.