SO yeah..... I had a falling out with somebody I've been working with for a few years and since he's a film student I'm worried he'll steal my characters. SO I'm trying to copyright them....problem is I can't find the right form....... Does anybody have any experence in copyrighting fictional characters? I should probably ask on a legal forum but I'm assuming we have a few people who've tried this for video games/cartoons ect..... (hawanja I'm looking at you)
You can't actually copyright a character, just as you can't copyright an idea. When you copyright a piece of fiction that contains a character, then you have rights to the character and can protect yourself from possible infringement. If you are talking about a film as opposed to a story/novel, you can simply copyright the script, even a non-final draft, and your character and story will be protected. EDIT: I learned this while researching what it would take to protect some of my characters (for a comic book) even though I haven't made an actual comic yet. As a side note, I also hold a registered copyright for a short story.
You can by writing an entreatment of it and copyright that (including the characters). How do you think the Matrix Bros. (now one brother, one sister, one cup) got sued? You will still have to write something (other than just draw a picture).
The form you'll need if it's a written work is Short Form TX. It's available from http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html as well as all the information you need to supply and what to do. However, to do this you will need a piece of work containing these characters - including their styles, traits etc. If, however, it is a pictorial piece (as in, a drawing or a comic strip but not necessarily a story), then you'll need to use Form VA - look on http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html for it. However, you are copyrighting their visual style and their names more than their character traits. Note, though, that your characters have to be sufficiently different as to not have comparisons in other peoples' characters to stand up in court. For example, the Wachowski Brothers cannot sue any character that wears a long leather coat. PS: Gajin - you should really stop believing everything in the tabloids: the Wachowski Brothers are very much still two brothers, despite one of them having a temporary stint in androgynous clothing. Hope that's helpful - I've taken courses in copyright law for some peculiar reason.
