Protecting a manuscript, a script or music

Sending a manuscript to publishers, a script to producers or a demo to labels: it is often the only way to get your work known. It is also the moment when many authors worry about being copied. The law protects you. You still need to be able to show it.

Your work is protected from the moment you create it

A novel, a short story, a screenplay, lyrics or a musical composition are protected by copyright from the moment they are created, provided they are original. No filing is required.

What is protected is the expression: the written text, the dialogue, the melody, the arrangement. A plot idea or a theme is not protected in itself. Our guide on protecting an idea explains this distinction.

Existing deposit services

Several organizations offer to date a work. Each has its own specialty.

The Société des gens de lettres, or SGDL, a French writers' association, offers an online deposit service called Hugo, open to all creative fields. The deposit is kept for four years and can be renewed.

The SACD, the French society of dramatic authors and composers, offers with its Belgian partners an online deposit service called e-dpo. It accepts in particular screenplays, plays and audiovisual works, for five, twenty or fifty years.

The Soleau envelope from INPI, the French national intellectual property office, can also date a work, for five years that can be extended up to twenty. Our comparison sets out its strengths and limits.

For music, Sacem manages the rights of the songwriters and composers who are its members. Registering a work with Sacem is first of all a way to collect your royalties when it is played. It is a different step from proof of prior existence, and a complementary one: see what collecting societies do.

Timestamp each version

A manuscript, a script or a song changes a great deal before its final version. Each version is a step in your work. In a disagreement, especially with a co-author or a former collaborator, dated versions show how the work was built and who contributed.

For music, think of demos, voice memos, scores and your software's project files. For a text, keep the outlines, drafts and successive versions.

Before each submission

Timestamp the exact version you send. Keep a record of the submission: email, online form, list of recipients. If a very similar text or song appears later, you will be able to show what you had sent, to whom, and when.

With Ipocamp, in practice

Ipocamp timestamps your files within seconds: text, PDF, audio file, score, project file. Each version gets a certificate showing its date and its file fingerprint. You can deposit as many versions as you need and find them all in one place. These deposits combine very well with the services of an authors' society. See also our offers for creators.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.