Answers to the Copyright Quiz

Okay, we'll start today by giving the answers to our April Fool's Quiz on copyrights.

Before we begin, a disclaimer: I am not an attorney and am not pretending to be one here. The information contained in my blogs on the subject are based on my own practical experience and on information gleaned from research. If you have a copyright issue, consult the U.S. Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov/ or a copyright attorney.

With that out of the way, here are the answers to the quiz:

1) Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. True

2) Americans have to register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office to be covered in the United States. False

3) A cheap and effective way of copyrighting a work is to mail it to yourself through the U.S. Postal Service and then save the sealed envelope, which establishes the date you wrote the work (often called the Poor Man's Copyright) False

4) An idea, fact or invention can be copyrighted. False

5) The term of copyright for a work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. True

6) Is my copyright good in France? True; Israel? True ; Afghanistan? False

7) I'm not an American citizen, but I can copyright my work in the U.S. True

8) My father is dead. He invented a new kind of hair dryer before his death. I can copyright it. False

9) I don't need to use my real name. I can copyright a work using my pseudonym. True

10) For works created after Jan. 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 55 years. False

Tomorrow, we'll start with the basics of Copyright 101