Copyright & legal issues

BronwenSM is the pseudonym of a real British woman and she is not backward in coming forward. She cares about her copyright and her rights are internationally recognised under the Berne Convention.

British copyright law gives the person who creates an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or a film, a property right, called a copyright, which subsists in the work.

It appears that to claim copyright in some countries you have to submit a form. In the UK it's far more simple. As soon as I write a story it becomes my copyright. I don't even have to put a © on it - though it's wiser to do so.

Contrary to what some seem to think, posting a story on Usenet does not mean the creator loses any of their rights. The owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive right to do, or to authorise anyone else to do, certain things with the whole or any substantial part of the work. These things are called the acts restricted by copyright and they are as follows:

• to copy the work
• to issue copies to the public to lend or rent copies to the public to perform, play or show the work in public
• to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service
• to make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation and nothing else. If it is not an act restricted by copyright, the copyright owner cannot stop anyone doing it.

But: the first restricted act, copying, covers a great deal including things that seem as though they might be included in the others but are in fact excluded.

Moral rights

There are some rights, however, which cannot be transferred or assigned and are specific to the author. These are called moral rights, and there are two of them:

• The right to be identified as the author, and
• The right to object to a derogatory treatment of the work.

Moral rights must first be asserted, usually at the time of publication. They can also be waived. A waiver of moral rights will work in the UK, but will have no effect in other countries where moral rights cannot be waived.

This homepage

The entire content of BronwenSM's homepage remains the property of Bronwen. and is thus copyrighted with all rights reserved. Replication, reprinting, and/or publishing of any or all, partial or entire, content of this website is prohibited by law. You may download, or print out individual selections of these listings only if explicitly used for your own personal information and not publicly replicated, distributed or sold.

The conditions of this agreement shall be in force every time you visit BronwenSM's homepage. This agreement is governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.

© BronwenSM, 2003.