How do you know you own your Book's Copyright?
- Michel Weatherall
- Jun 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 16
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the following opinions expressed
are exclusively my own and should not be taken as legal advice.
You've just written a book.
How do you know you legally own the copyright?
How can you get it copyrighted?
When can you legally print (literally make copies) of it?
Are you breaking the law to have it printed without knowing who holds the copyrights?
With the exception of creating something under an agreed upon contract, generally, if you've created it, it is automatically yours. Period. Simple.
For example, if you are or were employed by a software company to write programs or software, in this case the company – or your employer – would own that particular program or software, as they had paid you to write it. However, under most other circumstances, it would be yours. No different than if you were employed and/or paid by a magazine to write short stories. The short stories you wrote would be the magazine's or its owning company's.
However, let's just talk about writing for yourself – or more specifically, writing a book or novel. You've written a manuscript for your first novel, you've had it printed, and are going about to bookstores, events, fairs, and book signings selling your new book.
How do you copyright it?
When should you copyright it?
How do you go about copyrighting it?
How do you know you hold the copyrights for it?
Are you breaking the law by having it printed (literally copied) if you're not sure you hold the copyrights?
All fair, important, and good questions.
It is important to understand exactly what copyright is. In regards to creative works - poems, paintings, plays, stories, songs, and software – your original work is automatically protected by copyright. The exact moment your final pen-stroke, figuratively or literally, leaves the final page, you automatically and instantly own it and have copyrights, and your legal copyright is protected. Period.
Simple, right? And it IS that simple.
It only become complicated if that copyright is questioned or you need to prove you own it.
In Canada once a book has been published, it is legally required that the publisher (or author if it is self-published) submit one (1) or two (2) copies to Library and Archives Canada. (And yes, you are legally required to do so, and no, I personally don't believe Library and Archives Canada has any sort of agents to enforce it). See my previous article Library & Archives Canada: Canadian Publishers/Authors are Legally Obligated to Deposit Copies of their Books
It is also suggested, but not legally required, to register this same book/title with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), to establish copyright. There is a $ 63.00 or $ 81.00 fee to register (as of the publication of this article). After this fee is paid and the proper form filled out and submitted, a certificate is provided for this particular book/title. However, nowhere in this process does a copy of your book get submitted to the CIPO nor is it required to be submitted. To which I personally question this service. But we'll get to that later.
Ownership of copyright only ever comes into play if it is questioned or you – as its holder and owner – needs to prove it.
For example, one day you discover someone else has printed your book and has it for sale (this happens through 3rd parties through Amazon more often than you'd think), or you discover your book blatantly plagiarized (another author claiming they wrote it). What do you do? How can you prove it's yours? Or, how can this plagiarizing author prove it isn't yours or prove it is theirs?
The certificate you have from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) proves nothing. Although you have paid a fee and they have a file listing your name and address and your book's title, there is nothing more. They have no way of knowing what your “registered book's” contents are.
Now, the Library and Archives Canada does have an actual physical copy on hand and dated. (That is assuming the publisher or author submitted legal despots of your book), and the Library and Archives Canada is open to the public. All a judge would have to do is access your book from the Library and Archives Canada and see the date they received it. That is unless this alleged-plagiarizing-author can produce a copy or manuscript that predates your registered copy. However, a dated physical copy or electronic file would not do.
What would do is a copy of the manuscript, packaged, untampered, and unopened, delivered through the mail with the delivery date stamped on it. This is legal as it is through the Canada Post Office. In this case or example, the judge would open this package, see the original manuscript, establish that it was created no later than the date stamped on the delivered package.
So what should you do once you've written your book?
Once you have your final draft in hand - yes, it can be pre-edited - print a copy of this manuscript, package and mail it to yourself. Once you receive it, DO NOT OPEN it and DO NOT TAMPER with it. Store it away indefinitely. Hopefully you'll never have to touch it again. This is proof that you have a copy of this manuscript no later than the delivered date stamped by the Post Office.
Next, submit your one or two copies to the Library and Archives Canada.
Myself, I wouldn't bother registering with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) because - in my personal opinion - it is little more than a cash-grab. I have registered my novels with the CIPO, and this is the certificate I received. (Private and/or personal information has been redacted). There is no page 2. If you follow this up in the CIPO archives online, there is no more information. Outside of the book's title, they have no copy, physical or electronic, of the book's contents. Nothing.
Now, the only possible value I can see with having your book registered with the CIPO and paying the fee, would be possibly if you were to sell the manuscript's rights, or possibly if your publisher needs or owns the rights to it. (But in the case of a publisher owning its rights, this still falls upon the publisher).
The long and short of it:
Mail a copy of your manuscript to yourself before it goes public or to print.
Once printed, submit to Library and Archives Canada.
Get into these two habits.
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