KeepYourCopyrights

http://keepyourcopyrights.org/

New website designed to aid copyright holders

The site was started in part by Columbia's Program on Law and Technology, which Wu directs. The Program is also a cosponsor of the new site KeepYourCopyrights.org, which helps creators, well, keep their copyrights. No fancy AJAX mojo here; the site is a series of static pages that lay out the basics of copyright law as it affects creators. It also offers some guidance for thinking about how to handle the rights granted by a copyright with the goal of encouraging "a more proactive attitude toward copyright management."

Most creators know that any work they create is automatically copyrighted, even if they never send documentation to the Library of Congress. But the site also points out some features of copyright law that many creators might not know; for instance, that the law gives everyone a chance to reclaim rights after 35 years after signing them away to a publisher, movie studio, or record label. Furthermore, "You have this termination right even if your contract says not only that you gave everything away for all time but even also that you promised not to try to get your rights back."

The site is careful to note that it is not offering legal advice to copyright owners, but if you're a creator who wants to bone up on copyright law, you could do worse than starting at KeepYourCopyrights.