Should I post my animations on youtube if I don't have my characters copyrig!
Question: Ok, so I create my on animated series on my computer, but I can only show them to my close friends and family. I don't know if I should put them on youtube because I can't afford to get them legally copyrighted. I know that the copyright laws have changed, and if you created it, then it's your copyright, but anyone can still steal my ideas and characters.
All I want to do is share my cartoons with the rest of the world, but I'm just too scared of other people stealing my characters and ideas and making money off of them!
Can somebody help me out?
Answers: Ok, so I create my on animated series on my computer, but I can only show them to my close friends and family. I don't know if I should put them on youtube because I can't afford to get them legally copyrighted. I know that the copyright laws have changed, and if you created it, then it's your copyright, but anyone can still steal my ideas and characters.
All I want to do is share my cartoons with the rest of the world, but I'm just too scared of other people stealing my characters and ideas and making money off of them!
Can somebody help me out?
The Berne Convention grants authors/artists automatic copyrights of their work without obtaining a registered copyright, so if you post your work on Youtube you will be obtaining a copyright. Actually as soon as you put your animated series in tangible form on a fixed media (videotape, sheet music, photograph, drawing, etc) you obtain the copyright.
The difference between an automatic copyright and a registered copyright is what you can sue for if your ideas are stolen. With an automatic copyright, you are limited to actual damages and lost profits. With a registered copyright you can also sue for statutory damages and attorney's fees.
So even though it is better to register it, it isn't entirely necessary. It is also a good idea to mail a copy/original of the file to yourself and keep it sealed to provide proof of the date that you created your animations in case you do end up in court.
You being a nobody I doubt anyone would care.
If you're in doubt about YouTube, I suggest you go with Aniboom.
You can disable the imbedding feature, the only thing they can do is try to replicate them
and I doubt anyone is going to steal them anyway.
if you really had a hit, you would be persuing it. and sending it to people to try to make money.
well, I used to have the same fear, I write my own music and songs and I didn't want to share them online, but I ended up doing it anyway and no one has stolen them yet. I say its your gut feeling, I mean, everyone that see's it and likes it will back you that you made them, Put your name on the videos, and everything. be cautious, but share your geneous with us all!
dude, sorry to say this but i dont think there's a way u can keep ppl fromcopying ur ideas if u put them out for the world to see
if u dont want ppl making money off ur ideas make money off of them first
save the file to a CD, then mail the package to yourself, the post office will put a stamp on the file then dont open the package and that will count as creation date proof in court, it is more than accepted, and also the 'file creation" date on the cd will accunt for something in its own right
I would only post 1 that way it is not that bad if something happens! good luck with whatever happens!
Although it is rarely heard people copy your work (I know... Like would they..?) you can put it in this format:
[Title of the animation] By [name] (c) 2007
All right reserved
Hope this help.^^
It all depends on what you want to do, if you want to share your ideas to the world, go ahead, but you still have to consider the risk of having your ideas stolen because, as you've said, you don't have a copyright. If you DO NOT have a copyright, other users and viewers are able to take your ideas and call them their own because your ideas will NOT be protected by the Fed. gov. and they won't be able to help you from these people. The only things I could think of is either keeping your work private or get a Copyright to make it Public. hope this helps
yes you should
putting things on-line does copyright them.