“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” – Mark Twain
Authors can spend years of their lives working on a novel before anyone but an editor gets a chance to even look at it. Considering the amount of work that books and other artistic works take, it’s important to make sure the books you write are protected.
You deserve credit for your creativity — but what can you do to ensure that? That’s where intellectual property law comes in. One book series with good intellectual property protection is the Nocturne Falls ® series by Kristen Painter!
Federal Trademark Protection for Book Series
You may be surprised to learn that the title of your book series can be trademarked. So if you want the option to control the world that you created for your series, then you absolutely must trademark the name of the series. You also need to choose your series’ title wisely. If your title uses a phrase that is already in common use, it may be more difficult to trademark that series title. The best course of action is to contact the attorneys of Garcia-Zamor before you even publish your first book. That way your rights can be secured right from the beginning.
Trademarking Your Book Series can Result in Tremendous Profits From Collaboration With Other Authors
But what if you want to let other authors create in your world and want to make sure you receive proper credit? That’s the case with Kristen Painter’s Nocturne Falls series. The series centers around a fun, spooky world filled with vampires, witches, and all sorts of creatures. Ms. Painter’s world is colorful and readers love the various paranormal romances and cozy mysteries she’s written — to the point where it can be hard to keep up with demand!
Other authors have been allowed to write in the Nocturne Falls universe. This is all with proper permission and Painter is appropriately credited for her creations in these works. This benefits readers by introducing them to new writers, benefits authors by giving them a platform to tell stories, and Ms. Painter is legally protected as she has the Nocturne Falls trademark. Only specific authors can write using her world and she is able to control that through intellectual property laws. This interesting setup benefits everyone largely because of smart management of intellectual property created and protected by Ms. Painter. This allows Ms. Painter the opportunity to charge authors for the privilege of writing stories that take place in the Nocturne Falls universe.
Federal Copyright Protection
Even before a book is published, the author owns the copyright to the work. Some authors feel like this is enough protection for them and they don’t necessarily need to pursue more legal action. This is particularly common with self published writers. However, if you want to be sure that everyone knows that your book is yours and that no one else can use your characters, plot, or premise, you may want to officially register your copyright. This will protect you if someone else attempts to write a book similar to yours.
If your copyright is not registered, they may try to claim that they did not know your book existed, and you won’t be able to do anything about their very similar novel. If your copyright is registered, you can protect yourself as it will be clear that your book was put out into the world first. Luckily, copyrighting your book is straightforward when working with a good attorney! Just contact the attorneys of Garcia-Zamor and they will address all of your copyright needs. They have decades of experience protecting creative works, such as novels, catalogs, cartoon character images, music, art, art that is incorporated with packaging, videos, pictures, etc.
Are you interested in more help navigating intellectual property laws? Are you not sure which protections your creative work is eligible for or how to protect your copyright in case there is a problem? Contact Garcia-Zamor with any questions you have and make sure you are on the right track to protect your creativity.
