Something is copyrighted the moment you finish writing it, automatically. No further action is required. You don't have to register it with a copyright office or publish it.Originally Posted by Roseannebarr
Something is copyrighted the moment you finish writing it, automatically. No further action is required. You don't have to register it with a copyright office or publish it.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
The work explicitly states that it was Copyrighted in 1964, which is a very special year for US Copyright Law. Under the laws in place at the time, the Copyright would have expired 28 years later (or in 1992) if Stephen King did not renew the Copyright. However, the Copyright Act of 1992 removed the requirement to renew the copyright for works published in 1964 or later. This adds 47 years to the copyright expiration; another 20 years were added via a separate law. So, the Copyright for The Star Invaders will not expire until 2059. If it had been published/copyrighted in 1963, the copyright would have expired in 1991 (probably; it's pretty unlikely that King would have renewed the Copyright), but because it was copyrighted in 1964 it's protected.
Fuzzy. Is a tweet/twat/multiple recipient "private"message automatically copyrighted?Something is copyrighted the moment you finish writing it, automatically. No further action is required. You don't have to register it with a copyright office or publish it.
In other words is everything (perhaps thoughts) copyrighted?
I say yes...and no.
It needs to be original in thought and or content. Otherwise we can no longer use the word "the" without permission from the first person to type "the".
I believe as far as King was concerned, his Triad Inc. and Gaslight Books was a legitimate press, this was a first publication, and the story is copyrighted ... at least according to his copyright page:
WANT LIST: Any SK #186; Dark Man Unbound 1st Proof; FDNS Unbound 1st Proof; FDNS Black Tape Spine Proof; FDNS Unbound Color Proof
Would love to see just a snippet of this heretofore mythical story!
No - that is NOT sufficient. You still need to obtain permission (usually in writing)I believe if you self-publish something, even if you simply state, copyright by Steve King it's protected.
EDIT: This gives some interesting info
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
Hey, figure this is a shot in the dark given the thread's age and all... But was wondering if any of you guys are still around and still have photocopies of this story? Am trying to hunt down the full text, and this is the only lead I've found - other than a defunct eBay store that supposedly used to sell copies. Just interested in reading it, so thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I know you can't post it on the forum, but I would be willing to buy or trade some other ephemera/rarities for a pdf or photocopy copy - hell, even watermark, do it please ya, I'm just a completionist being driven mad by having only the first page. Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
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