Karis Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I read that article, which is baffling, as it's one of the top writing myths debunked. Basically, you can send something to yourself, but if someone stole your idea, it would never stand up in court. A case in point, the huge Harry Potter rip off case. The writer provided sealed documentation she had provided that she had 'sent' to herself which proved her novels were written first and that Rowling had stolen her idea. Yet it was later proven, from finding rare first editions of her books, that the whole thing was a complete fraud - despite the whole stamped envelope thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantaspook Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 There is a very interesting article on Wikipedia that covers the Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karis Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 It's disgusting that once the cash comes out, so do the litigators... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacock Lady Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 The whole "poor man's copyright" thing--posting work back to yourself--has never once stood up in Court as far as I'm aware. There really is no need to register or protect your work in this way. Publishing professionals are not interested in stealing your work; if they think it's good enough to publish then they'll want to sign you up, not rip you off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainbroome Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I wrote an article on my blog about this very same subject (writing about friends and family, not copyright). Basically, if you've been explicit to the point where the people concerned will recognise themselves, name changes or not, then you have one simple choice: leave it in the vault or face the consequences. There are ways of writing around things like this (as stated earlier in the thread), but if it's as obvious as you say, I don't see what you can do. My advice would be to have a think about how much those people mean to you and decide if it's worth it or not. If you decide it is, the next step for me would be to tell them what your plan is. My article, if you're interested: http://writeforyourlife.net/how-to-write-about-your-life-without-upsetting-friends-and-family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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