Definition of copyright and wording
You can ask for a copyright or you can ask for some wording, but they are totally different things. In the first case, you are requesting a document that gives you the right to publish something. In the second, you are asking 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. Establishes that the person named in the document as the author has the right to publish the written material designated in the document. That does not 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 copyright anything. Legally, as soon as a person puts words on paper, they are protected by copyright, whether or not a government document was acquired. Practically, if you write something and I apply 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 little different. The law says that work prepared by an employee in the scope of his employment, or specially ordered or commissioned work, is a “work for hire” and the employer is considered the author. If you are paid to write something for someone else, you have no right to do so.
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 thing as copyright or correctly written copy associated with this definition even though Microsoft Word Spell Check accepts written copy as a correct spelling (but doesn’t say what for), and written 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.
bonds
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 such as carter, carter, or carter. We see it a lot 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 type 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 does plays is a playwright. True, he may write them, but he’s not a playwright. I suppose you could argue that a person who writes copy is a copywright, but it’s not used that way.
