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Story detail

Zellus ๐Ÿšซ

The detail for a story contains date for when the chapters was Posted and Updated.

If a story is updated multiple times, what date is used? The first time it was updated, or det last?

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

The Description section on the authors page, and other story listings, will show the date the first chapter of the story was originally posted and the date the last chapter was originally posted - unless they're the same date. However, when you go to an individual chapter the top right-hand corner will have the date the chapter was first posted, and below that will be the date the current version was posted. Even if the author reposts the story 30 times the description dates won't change after they first appear, and the chapter dates will only have the first and last dates - never those in between.

Zellus ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

I'm not referring to when a Story is updated with a new chapter, but when a Chapter is updated.

Example page:

https://storiesonline.net/library/storyInfo.php?id=15066

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

I'm not referring to when a Story is updated with a new chapter, but when a Chapter is updated.

so was I. On the chapter page itself the date in the corner is the date it's first posted, and the date the latest version of the chapter is posted. Check this page below

https://storiesonline.net/s/11523:162895/flames-of-life-chapter-1

two dates, top is when I first posted that chapter, the bottom is when I reposted it after revising it.

The dates in the story description do not get changed by a revised posting at all, but the individual chapter pages do.

Replies:   Zellus
Zellus ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Did you repost the chapter one or multiple times?

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Zellus

Did you repost the chapter one or multiple times?

That specific chapter was up to its seventh repost. On the story stats page I have it shows version numbers. first post is 1.0, repost is 1.1, that is 1.7.

Replies:   Zellus
Zellus ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

Ok, thanks for your help.

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

The other date of note is the Copyright date on the Title Page, which defaults to the first posting of the story on SOL (first chapter's post), but which the author can reset if the story was published earlier (copyright date is based on the first-publication date).

Replies:   richardshagrin
richardshagrin ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

copyright date

The author of a work has a copyright to the work as soon as it is created. All s/he has to do is "fix the original work in a tangible medium of expression," meaning either putting pen to paper or just saving a word document. If publication date is the same year as the work is created there is no difference. Otherwise the copyright begins before the work is published.

If someone steals an author's computer he still has copyright on the stories it contains even if they haven't been "published" as a book, or on SOL. It is faint consolation to Mr. Bywater, but his stories seized by Australian Police are copyrighted by him, even though they haven't been "published".

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@richardshagrin

If publication date is the same year as the work is created there is no difference. Otherwise the copyright begins before the work is published.

Which is why some of latest posted stories on SoL have adjust copyright dates prior to the date they first appeared on SoL, which is their first public appearance. I've got some stories I've not finished, but the copyright goes back to 2005 because that's when the original part of the story was written. Some stories take days from start to finish, but most are in the 6 to 9 month range.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Which is why some of latest posted stories on SoL have adjust copyright dates prior to the date they first appeared on SoL, which is their first public appearance. I've got some stories I've not finished, but the copyright goes back to 2005 because that's when the original part of the story was written. Some stories take days from start to finish, but most are in the 6 to 9 month range.

Again, I don't buy that, based on my readings on the subject. If anyone copies your work, and you can back it up by showing an earlier duplicate work, you're protected by copyright, even IF copyright has not been granted (as it is on the stories publication). Thus the countdown clock on publication has NOTHING to do with the copyright protection. One protects your work from outright theft, while the other determines the legal timeframe of that protection.

Even IF your copyright runs out, someone STILL can't copy your work, claiming as their own. They CAN publish it if they want, but they can't claim it as their own. Copyright protection and the copyright claims are two completely different legal entities.

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@richardshagrin

If someone steals an author's computer he still has copyright on the stories it contains even if they haven't been "published" as a book, or on SOL. It is faint consolation to Mr. Bywater, but his stories seized by Australian Police are copyrighted by him, even though they haven't been "published".

But, in that case, when does the 70 year countdown clock begin? From the day of publication, as I've always been led to believe, or from the point when the author first typed the very first line of the story?

Based on what I Boker (the U.S. ISBN registrant) states, I've been changed ALL of my copyright dates from the date of first publication (which includes when they were posted to sites like SOL), rather than the date when I had a useful product.

As it is, I've got a ton a products which never made it beyond the first chapter. I understand those works are all copyrighted, but if it takes me 50 years to finish them, does that mean the copyright is only valid for 20 years upon publication?

The way I've always seen it, a work has 'copyright protection' as soon as you write it, but the copyright ONLY applies based upon the 'first publication' date. They are two separate legal standards, and you can't conflate the two separate stages (creation vs. publication) of the work.

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

Copyright starts on creation, not publication - although US copyright used to be on publication in the past.

Copyright countdown on a personal author owned copyright starts at their death.

Copyright countdown on a pay for hire item starts at creation (120 years) or first publication (95 years) whichever expires earlier. That's the copyright on what you are paid to write, as against being paid for what you wrote earlier.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

although US copyright used to be on publication in the past.

Nope, it was never on publication. Prior to the 1976 act, when registration was required to have a copyright at all, it was the registration date that mattered, and registration had to happen prior to publication. If you published without registration, it was automatically public domain.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Dominions Son

The discussion somehow migrated over to the "Story Discussions" thread: copyright and publication.

Given the points raised, I'm still uncertain how to list copyright dates, especially since it runs counter to what every self-publishing site suggests.

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