MrD,

There is a reputable copyright/script storage service in the UK from:

 http://www.thescriptvault.com/home.html


This is £10 for 10 years and endorsed by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. I've heard independent reports that say they are trustworthy so that should be what you need.

Under the 1989 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (covering most of the civilized world including USA and Europe), written works are automatically deemed in copyright the moment they are created and no copyright notice need be attached to validate this. This covers the unique expression of an idea and not the idea itself which is inherently 'uncopyrightable'.

There is more information on US copyright than any sane person could require at:

 http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

Sending scripts to yourself in a postmarked envelope is untested in law and probably with good reason.

Many writers worry about being ripped off, but in reality it's extremely unlikely that any film company with a name to protect is going to expose itself to damaging legal action. That's also the reason hardly anybody will read an unsolicited script. If your script has any merit they will buy it.

My advice to anybody considering any type of legal action not undertaken specifically to keep yourself out of jail is: DON'T DO IT. That means that in the extremely unlikely event that you feel somebody has ripped your stuff off, forget it.

You're prepared to ignore that advice aren't you? Well, I'm tellin' ya...

Thanks for the info.  

Sounds like janwood and abby have the right idea for great britain and america respectively.  I don't know your location, but in America you can go through either the writer's guild east or west and yes, you pay a fee for protection.  In the case of a dispute, they will back you up legally.  If you submit somewhere (contests, what have you), it is generally required.  Worry about the membership later.  

good luck.

In other words, the best genius in the world is kept in obscurity if he hasn't registered his script.

Quoted from NW3 MrD, There is a reputable copyright/script storage service in the UK from: �http://www.thescriptvault.com/home.html This is �10 for 10 years and endorsed by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. I've heard independent reports that say they are trustworthy so that should be what you need.

Isn't copyrighting it (in the US) permanent?  Here, we're talking ten years.  The WGA is similar.  Why protect it temporarily?

Quoted from NW3 Under the 1989 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (covering most of the civilized world including USA and Europe), written works are automatically deemed in copyright the moment they are created and no copyright notice need be attached to validate this.

The problem with this is that you need proof that you wrote when you say you did.  What's to stop me from taking any script and putting 'copyright 1981 by Phil' on it?  While copyrighting it doesn't prove that you actually wrote your story, it proves that you had it when you filed in 2001.  If a studio produces your work and it can show that it had the story as far back as 2003, then you won.

If your argument depends solely on your cover page having 'copyright 1981 by Phil' on it, then you're SOL.


Phil

But also you'd have 700 members of this board who seen the script, I mean really if somebody stole your work it may be a bit unconventional but at least you'd be able to fight the big guys.

To register a script and get it so that it's yours costs way too much, they are money hungry. The wga and wgc offer a quality deal, I heard that the american wga will fight for you if your work is stolen but the Canadians are cheap. Makes you proud to be Canadian...  Right  

That's why all the Canadian born rich and famous leave Canada, this country doesn't care about it's people. That singer Avril Lavigne is hated up here but has been accepted and gotten rich in the USA. Canadians hate her for some reason, so she left.

The only thing Canada has to offer is it costs less money to do film related stuff here, whether that be college or making movies. And if you like Hockey... that's our national game, or at least it used to be. We have 2 really bad sports teams as well because there is no money to support a baseball and basketball team at the pro level. Why have them if they are about as good as a minor league team.

I had to get that off my chest but seriously couldn't the members here help you out? I mean if somebody stole your script and it's been on here for two years. People who steal screenplays like that guy in the horror section who ripped off Casey's and called it his own. They don't care about the scripts but when somebody talks about it in great detail doesn't that make it there's?

WGA WGC and those places provide a service but they really are just taking your money, if they could actually do something for you than why not charge a more realistic fee? They're not in it for us, they're in it for themselves.

Here it is in plain words:

Under the terms of the Berne Convention, Literary and Artistic Works automatically acquire copyright on creation. This is for every one of us in the USA, Canada, the UK and 156 other countries. Inclusion of a copyright notice is not a requirement for copyright protection. There is no obligation to register copyright. You don't pay anyone to acquire it. It runs for seventy years after you die, so your kids can fight over royalties.

Copyright should only become an issue when someone rips you off and you decide it is worth time and trouble and every cent you have to blood-sucking lawyers attempting to prove you are the original author. What you need in that case is a creation date, which Phil helpfully points out will be difficult to prove if nobody knows when you created it. Which is why you might use a script service. A buck and a half to an independent third party to keep your script for a year is pretty good value I'd say, if only in case your house burns down.

Let's go over this quickly:

This year, you write a script.  A really really good script.  You don't file it with the copyright office (after all, you don't need to).

I read it, and I say, "This is a really really good script.  So good, I'm gonna steal and produce it myself."

I take your script and write, "copyright 1981 by Phil" on the coversheet."

We go to court.  Who wins?


Now, let's just say you go to court.  Only this time, you have a certificate of copyright  and I only have "copyright 1981 by Phil" on the coversheet.  Who do you think will win?

Not likely to happen?  It's happened already.


Phil


this post is copyright 1981 by Phil.

Make people take a lie detector test, that's going to tell the truth. People are paranoid anyway, somebody is going to steal my work. If you're that paranoid you'll never go anywhere.

I say if somebody steals your work move to America, get a gun and give them a piece of your mind... Sounds harsh but if you are that paranoid than this isn't much off your mind.

Phil,

What is 'the copyright office'? What is a 'certificate of copyright'? What seems to be the problem? I write the really really good script, I invest 25 bucks in myself and register it with the WGA or similar. THEN I send it for you to read. You take my script and write what you like on it, if it hasn't been similarly lodged on the date you claim then I'll see you in court and we both know who will win.

If you are trying to say that the naive author will get ripped off as soon as looked at because he doesn't have some notional certificate then I'm not arguing but Wesley_And_The_Curse has it right about paranoia. If all you have is one really really good script which you can't afford to protect then this is the wrong business to be in. Anybody that knows you should know the standard of your work, and the plagiarist will get nowhere. Especially when they ask for rewrites.

If you live in Canada and are looking to copyright search google for the CIPO it's the Canadian Intellectual Properties Office (Or something like that), they have one in America or wherver you live just change the C to your country and you got it.

Quoted from NW3 Phil, What is 'the copyright office'? What is a 'certificate of copyright'? What seems to be the problem? I write the really really good script, I invest 25 bucks in myself and register it with the WGA or similar. THEN I send it for you to read. You take my script and write what you like on it, if it hasn't been similarly lodged on the date you claim then I'll see you in court and we both know who will win.

The copyright office is a part of the United States Library of Congress.  For thirty dollars, you can have a manuscript , screenplay, etc. permanently recorded (rather than just five or ten years.  You send them your work and the fee and you get your certificate.

Visit http://www.copyright.gov/ for details.

If you send me  your script (the unsavory producer) and I sit on it for a while (common practice in Hollywood) your registration could expire and, since the WGA doesn't keep it past this point, how will you prove something you wrote fifteen years ago is yours?

And don't forget who has the team of lawyers....

Quoted from NW3 If you are trying to say that the naive author will get ripped off as soon as looked at because he doesn't have some notional certificate then I'm not arguing but Wesley_And_The_Curse has it right about paranoia. If all you have is one really really good script which you can't afford to protect then this is the wrong business to be in. Anybody that knows you should know the standard of your work, and the plagiarist will get nowhere. Especially when they ask for rewrites.

Paranoid?  Which one of my enemies told you I was paranoid!!?

I'm simply saying that the copyright office is the better way to go.  And knowing the standard of my work has nothing to do with it.  Remember many years ago when Art Buchwald sued Eddie Murphy for plagiarism over 'Coming to America?'  If Buchwald can have his work stolen, what protection does thte little guy have.


copyright 1981 by Phil

The purpose of registration and or copyright is to establish ownership of the idea - not that you wrote it, but that you own it. I can read an unprotected script on this site, send it to WGA or USDPC under my name and if you haven't done so, the idea is legally mine, and while you can scream and bitch and moan and even sue, in the end I'm going to win.

Mailing it to yourself doesn't do anything except prove you've got mail.

So pay the 25 bucks and CYA.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley But also you'd have 700 members of this board who seen the script, I mean really if somebody stole your work it may be a bit unconventional but at least you'd be able to fight the big guys. To register a script and get it so that it's yours costs way too much, they are money hungry. The wga and wgc offer a quality deal, I heard that the american wga will fight for you if your work is stolen but the Canadians are cheap. Makes you proud to be Canadian...  Right   That's why all the Canadian born rich and famous leave Canada, this country doesn't care about it's people. That singer Avril Lavigne is hated up here but has been accepted and gotten rich in the USA. Canadians hate her for some reason, so she left. The only thing Canada has to offer is it costs less money to do film related stuff here, whether that be college or making movies. And if you like Hockey... that's our national game, or at least it used to be. We have 2 really bad sports teams as well because there is no money to support a baseball and basketball team at the pro level. Why have them if they are about as good as a minor league team. I had to get that off my chest but seriously couldn't the members here help you out? I mean if somebody stole your script and it's been on here for two years. People who steal screenplays like that guy in the horror section who ripped off Casey's and called it his own. They don't care about the scripts but when somebody talks about it in great detail doesn't that make it there's? WGA WGC and those places provide a service but they really are just taking your money, if they could actually do something for you than why not charge a more realistic fee? They're not in it for us, they're in it for themselves.

I just need to counterpoint Wesley's generalizations about Canadians.
-I'm Canadian, and I love Avril Lavigne!
-Canada has more to offer than that "only thing" you mentioned!  Sheesh!
-I'm Canadian, and I HATE hockey!
-Canada does have professional basketball leagues ... sometimes.  Only a few cities ever participate, though.  I know, because Saskatoon has had a couple different professional teams in a weirdly-named pro-league in my life-time.