Write to the desk

You can write to the desk, and this page says what belongs in the letter. It also settles one question first, because it keeps arriving: the manuscript on your screen is already yours.

Who owns the words you wrote this morning?

You do, and no paperwork came first. An original work is protected the moment its author fixes it, meaning captured in a medium permanent enough that the work can be perceived or reproduced for more than a short time: written down, typed, recorded. Original carries a technical meaning. The work must be independently created by a human author, without copying, and have what the Supreme Court has called a "spark" and "modicum" of creativity. A draft written at the kitchen table clears both bars. A page of title options does not, because titles, names, short phrases and slogans are among the things the law treats as uncreative, and copyright protects expression, never ideas, procedures, methods or concepts. The sentence you wrote is protected. The idea behind it is not.

What ownership covers, and for how long

Copyright carries six exclusive rights, covering reproduction, derivative works, distribution, public performance, public display and digital audio transmission of sound recordings. The translation and the board book edition are derivative works, so both need permission from the holder, usually the creator. Under the work made for hire doctrine, what an employee creates within the scope of employment belongs to the employer, and the doctrine reaches certain commissioned works from certain independent contractors, which is why an illustrator on a flat fee should read the contract twice. For works created on or after January 1, 1978, the term is the author's life plus seventy years, seventy after the last surviving joint author, and 95 years from publication or 120 from creation, whichever is shorter, for works made for hire. The Copyright Office lays it out in full.

Does any of this need registering?

No, and the automatic part surprises people. Copyright exists from the moment of fixation, and registering is not mandatory. For U.S. works, though, registration, or a refusal, is what you need before you can enforce the exclusive rights in court, and registering on time opens the door to certain monetary damages and attorney fees in a lawsuit, plus a presumption that the certificate is accurate. One place in the country registers claims to copyright, and that is the Copyright Office. One note before you borrow from old books: every work published in the United States before January 1, 1931 is in the public domain because its protection expired, and for works still protected, the exceptions in sections 107 through 122 of the Copyright Act, fair use among them, allow some uses without permission.

What to put in the letter

A correction comes first: if a guide here is wrong, name the line and say what it should read. A question comes next, and many have answers already on file. A suggestion for a guide the Review has not written is welcome, and the page on how the Review works says what runs. What this desk will not give is legal advice on your own contract. For that, the real desk is the Copyright Office's Public Information Office: (202) 707-3000, toll free at 1-877-476-0778, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except federal holidays, in the Madison Building of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Before you write, open the manuscript you set aside and find the page where the rights sit. If it does not say what you assumed this morning, that question is your letter.

copyright.gov

• The site of the U.S. Copyright Office, the only place to register claims to copyright in the country and what it calls the definitive source on the subject.
• It holds the definition of copyright, the exclusive rights, duration, registration, fair use, the public domain, circulars and a Fair Use Index.
• Its Public Information Office has helped the public since 1870.