Scratch

Well, to copyright something you have to apply to a copyright company, you have to pay a small fee and they copyright it for you. However, they have to think that it's worth copyrighting... and in the case of your username, I doubt they would think that.

Also, it has to be one of these things:

Literary 
song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters & articles etc.

Dramatic 
plays, dance, etc.

Musical 
recordings and score.

Artistic 
photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos.

Typographical arrangement of published editions
magazines, periodicals, etc.

Sound recording
may be recordings of other copyright works, e.g. musical and literary.

Films 
broadcasts and cable programmes.

Last edited by WeirdF (2010-01-04 07:47:17)

Yeah, I don't want anyone to use my username.    I made it up, but I've noticed 1-3 websites that have taken it already.    I can name 2 right now.    ( Neopets and DeviantArt )

WeirdF wrote:

Well, to copyright something you have to apply to a copyright company, you have to pay a small fee and they copyright it for you.

How much of a fee.

Im sorry, does anyone know how to In australia

http://www.ehow.com/how_2307083_get-something-copyrighted.html

everythingRhymes wrote:

you can copyright it if you have the money, but if it's a project, it would go against scratch's copy-copyright thing i think. i'm not really sure though, can someone clear this up for me? it's confusing.

With regards to to Scratch projects and copyright:
Yes, the Scratch website allows for remixing of projects; when you put the project onto the Scratch website, you allow other Scratchers to remix your project.

It might help if you have a better idea of what underlies this remix idea on the Scratch website: by default, Scratch puts a Creative Commons license on each project uploaded onto the Scratch website, which allows any Scratcher to use any part of the project so long as they follow the terms of that license and the website's Terms of Use. The license is the same for each project and a link to information on that license is provided on each project page.

However, it's not to say that a Creative Commons license forces someone to give up their copyright. Under any Creative Commons license, a user is able to keep his/her copyright while allowing others to use his/her work provided they give credit and follow the given terms of that license; thus, under the Creative Commons license that the Scratch website uses, a Scratcher is able to keep his/her copyright but allows other Scratchers to remix the work provided they give credit and follow the terms of the given Creative Commons license. (You can see part of this take effect in the case of remixed projects, in which credit is given to the original projects and its owner). If you find something that violates this (such as a project in which a Scratchers takes images from someone else and claim to have designed the said images), you can always flag the project and the Scratch Team can look into it. 

If the aim in copyrighting a project is to prevent other Scratchers from completely accessing and using your projects (something which, if I'm not mistaken, goes against Scratch's idea of sharing ideas), then you're thinking in the wrong direction. Really, the only surefire way to prevent other Scratchers from accessing and using your project is to, well, not upload projects to the Scratch website in the first place.   

As for regards for the issue of money and copyright:
In countries where the Berne convention is accepted, copyright is automatic - technically, then, there's no need to spend money on registering the copyright and the work holder is able to exercise his/her copyright. Spending money for copyright registration just helps to give your copyright fangs in a legal dispute should it occur. :3 Of course, here it may be better to seek the advice of a lawyer or someone familiar with copyright law due to variations in copyright law among different countries.

Last edited by cheddargirl (2010-01-06 18:51:12)

I don't really understand. Let's say I were to make a stickman, and a highly recognizable one at that, and I lived in a country that is under the Berne Convention. Would this character automatically be copyrighted to myself?

No, easily recognizable means that it can be recognized as created by me, all over.
If I supposedly made said stickman, what would I need to do for it to be recognized as my copyright?