Screenwriting : Does adding a copyright sign to a script on this site protect you from anything? by Declan Powers

Adding the copyright symbol doesn't do anything legally.

Patents and copy write, are only as good as the money you have to enforce them...

Just for clarity: Copyright is the right to copy. Copy write is writing advertising and marketing copy (text).

So Simon would be correct if he had written, "Patents and copyright, are only as good as the money one has to enforce them..." Very true.

Well, taking down my screenplay.

haha touche...

well, I have every draft saved to my computer which logs the dates as well in the computer itself. I don't have the money to get it WGA approved or professionally copyrighted.

I remember beening told that when you completed a script , print it off and send it to yourself as recorded delivery to prove that you wrote it, not sure if that's correct

back to the original question... Do not put copyright symbols/WGA/LOC numbers on your screenplay. It's a amateur faux pas in the film industry. However You should always register your screenplay with the library of congress (LOC). When/if you sell your screenplay you will be required to present 'Chain of title". This is documented evidence that you own the script. I personally would avoid any site that states they have the right to distribute or make works based upon your work.

but doesnt this site state that it has that right? also does registering it to the LOC cost money?

also i got a username for eco.copyright.gov which says i cannot register anything unless i pay to have it registered.

$35...

If this site states that, don't upload it.

I reread the terms of use and i didnt see it say what i thought it said. it said as i understand it that a third-party (such as a user of the site) cannot modify or distribute another user's work without their permission and that the user's themselves have the rights to the content that they produced as long as it is their original creation. so im pretty sure the site doesn't have the right to borrow elements from or change your script and neither do the people viewing it, because you must already confirm that the content you publish is your own content and not derivitive of anything else. and im pretty sure that means others cannot steal or rework the ideas in someone else's script without permission as well. am i wrong and if so can someone explain the procedure? im not selling the scripts im working on at the moment anyway, and im fine with them being read if its in their original forms that i provide. my only concern is people stealing ideas from it or whatever. outside of that i dont see much problem in having my work published here for people to see.

Is it possible to register a script for free? Emailing a script to someone shows a date...That should be admissible in court.

Not really. Copyright law is a strange beast. When you write something, copyright is created. But you cannot copyright an idea, only your interpretation of that idea. Poor mans copyright is not admissible in a court. Only the LOC can grant true copyright and it give you the right to sue for losses also.

It protects you against people selling illegal tobacco.

ok well i should get my script registered at some point but probably not right now because it isn't finished yet and also because no one would option it right now anyway.

The WGA does not register or protect titles. Neither does the LOC. There is the Title Registration Bureau of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). However, the Bureau only protects titles registered by members of the Bureau, which consists of the major studios and other companies that choose to sign up and only protects the titles against use by other Bureau members. Nonmembers are beyond the MPAA’s reach.