Any copyright lawyers in the house?
I've been reading up a bit on Canadian copyright laws, mainly over at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website (cipo.ic.gc.ca), as a precursor to starting up my own website. I want to make sure that I retain full copyright over any posted work that goes up on my site. I'm becoming aware that ALL internet-posted material is considered automatically copyrighted and belonging to the author (owner), whether officially copyrighted or not; but it sounds like registering an official copyright gives you a little more room to swing your bat when you want to lodge a complaint against anyone who may have used your work without your permission. I like the little extra 'oomph' behind that, particularly as my work will not be published work (although I am hoping for a graphic novel or comic series to come out of it).
So, just wondering if anybody out there has any experience with this matter that they can share with me?
I hope to have my website up by the end of March, if not before. I'll be posting my new ongoing work there, which shall remain nameless for now. But it will deal with the life of an unexpected and somewhat reluctant superhero in Canada, and characters and circumstances will be (very) loosely based upon my own life and experiences; for instance, the main character will be dealing with the death of his father, and that is fresh for me as my father passed away less than a month ago.
I'll post more about the website as I get it closer to launch, as well as the story that will run there.
As a heads up, I may be asking around for an artist at some point; somebody willing to draw me an occasional picture to go with my story. Pics will remain the property of the artist, and will have a copyright notice, name of artist, and link to artist's website (if so desired) when posted on my site. Something to think about. Unfortunately, there will be no pay for the art at this time (one of the reasons I am only going to be asking for an occasional pic). But, more about all that later...
