Definition of copyright and redaction

You can apply for a copyright or you can apply for some redaction, but they are totally different things. In the first case, you are asking for a document that gives you the right to publish something. In the second, you are applying for a writing job. Writers often confuse them.

Copyright

A copyright is a legal document issued by the Copyright Section of the United States Patent Office. It states that the person named in the document as the author has the right to publish the written material designated in the document. That doesn’t mean that the named person actually wrote the copy, just that he or she has the legal right to publish it.

You don’t need to own copyright to anything. Legally, as soon as a person writes words on paper, they are protected by copyright, whether a government document was purchased or not. Practically, if you write something and I apply for and get the copyright, it will be difficult for you to prove that you wrote it.

From a technical writer’s point of view, it’s a bit different. The law says that work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or specially ordered or commissioned work, is “work made for hire” and the employer is considered the author. If you get paid to write something for someone else, you have no right to it.

In its correct forms, the word is:

– copyright: the right to publish

“She owns the copyright to that book.”

– protected by copyright: the condition of being covered by a copyright

“You can’t post that because it’s copyrighted material.”

– copyright: the act of obtaining a copyright

“I own copyright to this even as I write it.”

There is no such form as copyright or correctly spelled copy associated with this definition even though Microsoft Word Spell Check accepts typed copy as a correct spelling (but doesn’t say why), and typed copy appears all over the Web instead of copyrighted.

Drafting

Copywriting is the act of creating copy or content. Generally, the term refers to writing in the sense of creating non-technical material. It’s different from the kind of writing that tech writers do. Some jobs that require copywriting are marketing brochures, magazines, newspapers, and consumer communications. If you are a writer, you could be a copywriter.

bonuses

Here’s another comparison to watch out for. If you want to write plays, you want to be a playwright. Yes, that is correct. You have to write well when you’re writing about writing plays. We almost never use the right by itself. It is mostly used in compound words like carter, carter, or carter. We see it very much as a name; Frank Lloyd Wright or Wright/Patterson Air Force Base.

Wright has the same story as Smith. A blacksmith was anyone who worked some kind of metal with a hammer; blacksmith, tinsmith, silversmith. A wright was a craftsman who made something. The name of the occupation became the name of an individual.

A person who makes plays is a playwright. Sure, he may write them, but he’s not a playwright. I guess you could argue that a person who writes copy is a copywright, but it’s not used that way.