In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi refers to Mos Eisley spaceport as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” and adds, “we must be careful.” Obi-Wan’s wisdom applies to the Internet too. Regardless of your publishing path, if you write for publication, you should take steps to protect your copyrighted work against Internet-based infringement. While no single post can cover all of the ways to protect your work online, here are some tips on things all authors can do to protect and enforce their copyrights: 1. Perform Regular Copyright / Infringement Searches. Search the Internet regularly (at least once a month)
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Piracy, Theft, and Copyright
Although my office doesn’t handle litigation (lawsuits) and contested matters, I often receive questions from authors (and small publishers) about piracy and related issues. The Internet offers authors more chances for discovery, and better contact with readers, than almost any other tool. Unfortunately, it also gives criminals an equally-opportune chance to steal an author’s work. (Let me be clear: people who pirate, copy, or share an author’s copyrighted work without permission are criminals. There are no exceptions or excuses. If you reproduce, copy, or “share” copyrighted work without permission or a legally-recognized defense, you are breaking the law, and that makes
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