Writing: Legal Question

[Art72]

I've been working on a new blog, and writing a lot of content recently. I added a tab to my blog "Mindset 4 Success". In short, it's centered around the concept of a applying a structured psychology in ones personal and business practices, and concerns life skills that can serve as the key ingredient (foundation) in creating a recipe for success. (a growing philosophy of mine)

Long story short, I decided to domain search the name, naturally it's taken. I went to see the type of content the site had, and it's a life coach institute utilizing a similar concept as my "newborn" blog. (Granted I 'feel' dwarfed by them respectively for having done what I hope to accomplish, impart.)

So, when I enter the keywords; Mindset4Success.com it redirects to "The Gardner Institute" with a slogan "Mindset 4 Success"

My concern is am I infringing on any copyrights using this as a tab on my blog, and as a dedicated sub page? and if so, how does one find out?

Again, it was a fluke that I even bothered to look the name up at all.

*Therefore, what if I had used it without knowing, and it happens to be copyrighted.

Honestly, I have thousands of writings concerning psychology, philosophy, among others....how do I, or better still, how can I know if my random titles or writings are infringing on another's?

In the same question, how can I copyright my works and protect my investment as a writer?

It obvious much of what we write today is merely old ingredients forming new recipes. So, in theory anything we write could be considered plagerism, no?

I certainly do not intend or desire plagiarizing anyone else's work(s). I damn sure don't copy my content, as it's written raw as it comes out.

Anyone armed with some insight into these issues...please guide me to the general practice of protecting my writing and being respectful of another's.

 

[DanWesson]

Not sure about the copyright of the "mindset 4 success", but you can do a google search for a copyright check if you want.

Maybe just change the tab on your blog to Mindset for Success, and keep on writing what you want. If you are writing original content, there's nothing to worry about. at. all.

how can I copyright my works and protect my investment as a writer?

If you created it, you already own a copyright to it. It doesn't mean it can't still be copied by a scraper or an individual who wants to reuse it without your permission. If you aren't earning money from it, though, I wouldn't think it's a good use of your time to worry about it too much.

 

[lacrosse_20]

There's a lot to say about this, but I'll try to keep it brief.

If you're really concerned about your copyright exposure, speak with an Intellectual Property Attorney (one of which I am not). It's expensive, but you'll sleep better at night.

The reality is that most copyright infringement goes unnoticed and unresolved. You will most likely fly under the radar and be fine. If you start making real bank, then you can afford to hire an attorney to limit your exposure... until then, if it were me, I wouldn't worry about it.

As for protecting your own intellectual property, there are some very basic steps you can take to get protection. The first is to put a copyright © symbol on your material along with the year and your name. It sounds simple, but it really is law that that's sufficient to copyright material. You can then take it a step further and apply to the USPTO for a registered copyright. This makes your copyright more enforceable, but again, I wouldn't bother unless you're making bank on the copyrighted product.

To check if anyone is infringing on your copyrighted matieral, check out Copyscape Plagiarism Checker - Duplicate Content Detection Software or TinEye Reverse Image Search, both of which will tell you if there is someone duplicating your content on the internet. There are other services out there too, but this'll get you started.

 

[Art72]

:thumbsup:Thanks...not exactly making bank yet, but u guys definitely helped. I since went and bought the domain hyphen-ating the words so I think i'm ok.

 

[zany zoroaster]

I suggest that you read up on the different types of Intellectual Property. To start with, what you are concerned about is a Trademark issue, not a Copyright issue. I tried finding a good FAQ on the USPTO site but they didn't have any straightforward documents, so here is a link to the Canadian pages regarding copyright, trademarks, patents etc.:
Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Types of intellectual property
Click on the different navbar headings on the left to read about the meaning of each of these. My personal opinion on this is the same as lacrosse 20's.