Writer's question

[maatmoon]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 3:14pm

Any writers out there? I'm writing a book for an original musical and just found a composer. Thing is that I don't know this person that well and am a little paranoid. Anyone know anything about copyrighting a work in progress...what happens when you make changes, etc. Any input would be appreciated.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 3:30pm

I'm not at all sure if this still holds true - but I remember at one time you could take all your changes and put them into an envelope and mail them back to yourself. if the envelope remained un-opened and the date the stamp was cancelled was legible - that would be proof that you had it first (something like that) - make any sense?

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 3:32pm

That practice supports the notion that anything that's written is copywritten, regardless of whether or not the person has filed a legal copyright.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 5:45pm

From THE STAGE WRITERS HANDBOOK by Dana Singer:

"In the absence of a written agreement, the law provides a presumption that the collaborators intended to create a 'joint work,' and that each collaborator, as a joint owner, has an undivided ownership interest in the whole product. This means each collaborator retains an ownership interest in ALL the elements, not just those to which he or she contributed. (It's not necessary for individual contributions to be equal, either in quantity or quality. It doesn't matter if one person creates music and another creates the book and lyrics, or if one person conceived the project and therefore has a greater emotional stake in it: The collaborators will be deemed joint owners if there is no collaboration contract.)
If collaborators work together for a while and then one decides to break up for whatever reason, in the absence of a written collaboration agreement he or she cannot simply say, 'I'm taking what I contributed and leaving,' because the other collaborators can reply, 'You can't do that because we share ownership with you.' Under such circumstances, if the collaborators can't come to an agreement about how to break up...the work already completed cannot be used again in other ways (such as removing songs to use in a different musical) and the work can't be marketed on an exclusive basis..." Updated On: 9/28/04 at 05:45 PM

[maatmoon]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 5:56pm

I was reading up on copyrights and understand the process. What I'm confused about is, how do I protect my work BEFORE we start collaborating? Can you copyright a work in progress? What happens when you make changes? I just don't want red tape to get in the way of this musical happening. Thanks for your help!