Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

Copyright Law

This isn't really a tutorial on copyright law. That would be long and boring. More, it's a comment on copyrighting in general, because I think a lot of people are confused about that one.

First off, in the advanced section of every chapter you post, you have the option of setting your copyright settings. If you set it to all rights reserved, you are declaring that you own this work. When it is published, Wattpad has record of it and... well... that's it. Your done. You don't need to do anything else. Move along.

However, a lot of people feel the need to have entire chapters reciting copyright information. First off, saying you have copyright does not give you copyright. If you want secured copyright, you could file copyright with your local government.

This is copyright for the United states

https://eco.copyright.gov/eService_enu/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo=eco.copyright.gov

This costs money... not a lot, but it does. However, even this isn't necessary. In fact, in the USA, copyright is automatically given when you create the product. Filing copyright is actually about creating a strong paper trail should anyone steal your copyright. It's about having evidence filed legally that this is yours. Citing copyright information is about making it easy to contact you, should someone have questions about your copyright (looking for permission to use/sell or contact you regarding a copyright violation of their own). 

Second, you can't copyright an idea. Plain and simple. If someone isn't copying you word for word, changing a sentence here or a sentence there, you don't have a right to it. Stop claiming you'll pursue with legal recourse. That's like claiming you'll get a restraining order if someone bumps into you one more time.

It's childish... and it's just not true. You can copyright your story... but only your story, ie, the exact words of your story. The idea... anyone can rip off. You can't do anything about it, and to be honest, you shouldn't be allowed to do anything about it. Believe it or not, whatever you're writing right now, it probably isn't half as unique as you think. It's been thought of before. If patents required just citing out a vague idea, then big companies would just stash up every big idea that exists, and then sue anyone who treads on it.

In fact, frivolous lawsuits like these occur all the time. They're called patent trolls. They are lawyers with low morals going around buying up every idea they can think of. When one lightly touches on their broad idea, they sue. They don't get money cause they win all of these cases. They get money because big businesses realize it's cheaper to just pay them off then it is to take them to court. These layers know this, and that's how they make money off of it.

So... down to you. Don't be a patent troll. Don't get angry because someone is doing an idea you did. 90% of the time, they just happened to independently think of a similar idea, and probably haven't even seen your work before. The other 10% of the time they saw and liked your work. Take it as a compliment that they want to emulate it.

I really can't believe how many people on here have a problem with other people "using their work". I mean, come on, this site is 80% fanfics. That's what you guy are doing, taking something that isn't owned by you and using it for a non profit purpose.

So I'm sorry, as much as it pisses you off (and it shouldn't, if anything you should feel flattered) there is nothing you can do about your idea. It's not yours. You don't own it. The only thing you own is what you personally write. When someone does lift what you write, word for word, then you can start crying foul. However, they aren't profitting off your work.It's freely available online and all they are doing is replicating it. SO... you can report it to wattpad, and because you clicked all rights reserved then they will ban/block/ punish the person accordingly.

But in the end... that's all you can do. You aren't going to sue them (in most cases you need personal info, and I'm sorry Starscream257 is not enough to go on to file a lawsuit). You aren't going to go after them, so just relax. When your work IS making money, or someone lifted your work and found a way to make money off it, then you can start getting all up in arms. Until then, your a wattpader, and when you freely present your work online, you need to present it with an open hand.