Feeling kinda nocuous at work, but I promised on this post and I feel it’s important so here goes, oh, and again, I’m not a lawyer. This info is based purely on research, make sure to looking into the subject in depth yourself.
Before you get started on your company and comic if you’re thinking of self publishing you’ll want to check existing copyright and trademarks (© and TM respectively). Now people will tell you have to hire copyright lawyers and such, which is a good idea if you can afford it, but as we’re all comic and/or zombie fans here, it’s a safe bet none of us are hording away money for obscure legal fees. Thankfully there’s a lot you can do yourself, so let’s look at what courses you have open.
First off; Protecting your work, aka Copyrights.
A lot of people will tell you to mail yourself your work so it comes back to you in a postage dated envelope and as long as it’s sealed your good. No. IF it makes you feel better go for it, but this ‘form’ of copyrighting doesn’t hold up in courts, and quite frankly is a waste of time.
And you don’t have to worry about it as much because of recent changes in copyright laws. Currently the United States operates under a creative copyright basis, meaning if you can show that you came up with the idea first, the concept is considered operating under your copyright. This was actually one of the reason for the blog; it proves for all that this is my concept, when I came up with it, etc. Keep in mind the trick is to protect your idea before you have it published. You can legally file a copyright, but in my opinion I’d wait till you start getting the bucks before you consult with a lawyer.
Trademarks are tricky, and it’s easy to step on peoples toes without even knowing it. While trademarks seem similar to copyrights there are defined differences between the two, and you’ll want to read up on what makes them unique. Basically Trademarks are designed to protect a service or product, Copyrights protect original ideas or artistic works. So really what you want to focus on is Copyright for your comic, comic ideas, etc. and Trademark search to make sure whatever name your putting your comic ‘company’ under, hasn’t been taken, or is similar to an existing publishing company.
That being said you’ll want to start with searching copyrights and trademarks. I’ve seen services, and or lawyers charging $200-$300 for this service. . .and all it takes is basically time.
Copyright
Trademarks
Make sure when you do the searches you look for both broad descriptions and more specific detailed searches. It’s pretty much all common sense.
Hope that helps.
-T
