Copyright, Trademark or both ??

[Glitch]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

Greetings,

I'm planning on starting a series of animated cartoons on youtube. I have about 30 characters that I will be using to tell the stories. They all have their own defining and predictable personalities, names and looks, but the settings/world will be different from time to time (think of it as having 30 actors portraying their character on different random sketches).

So in short words: the characters' names, looks and personalities are the only constant, their background stories and the world they live in will be different.

I want to do things right, so how should I proceed ??

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

Greetings,

I'm planning on starting a series of animated cartoons on youtube. I have about 30 characters that I will be using to tell the stories. They all have their own defining and predictable personalities and looks, but the settings/world will be different from time to time (think of it as having 30 actors portraying their character on different random sketches).

So in short words: the characters' looks and personalities are the only constant, their background stories and the world they live in will be different.

I want to do things right, so how should I proceed ??

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Your animated cartoons and your cartoon characters and the stories that are told are all automatically copyrighted.

You can register your cartoons with the US Copyright Office to provide your works with greater protection. Registration prior to or within three months of publication makes you eligible for statutory damages if anyone infringes on your rights in the works you've created. Statutory damages range from $750 to $30,000 per infringement.

Without registration and the ability to collect statutory damages, you are limited in an infringement suit to your provable losses or your infringer's provable profits (and these could be negligible and might not be worth the expense of a lawsuit).

Here is a link to the US Copyright Office, where you can find additional information on registering your works: http://www.copyright.gov

 

[Glitch]

Thank you, I read that website already and many other, but still is not clear to me:

It says to submit a complete copy of the work... is that like the first video I upload to youtube ?? but a single video won't include all of the characters !!
So what ?? Do I copyright every time I introduce a new character ??

Then there is the Identifying Material. Is that referring to something like this: https://nahuiyu.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/page_27.jpg ??
And where it says what kind of personality the character has ?? I'm supposed to write stuff next to the drawing explaining all about the character ?? Is there a template or something I should follow ??

Yes, eventually I will be visiting a lawyer, but I want to know what I'm doing beforehand so that I know when things are going the right way.

Thank you for the fast reply.

 

[quincy]

Thank you, I read that website already and many other, but still is not clear to me:

It says to submit a complete copy of the work... is that like the first video I upload to youtube ?? but single video won't include all of the characters !!
So what ?? Do I copyright every time I introduce a new character ??

Then there is the Identifying Material. Is that referring to something like this: https://nahuiyu.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/page_27.jpg ??
And where it says what kind of personality the character has ?? I'm supposed to write stuff next to the drawing explaining all about the character ?? Is there a template or something I should follow ??

Yes, eventually I will be visiting a lawyer, but I want to know what I'm doing beforehand so that I know when things are going the right way.

Thank you for the fast reply.

You should register all of your videos, if you want the added protection that registration provides. You can also register each of your characters separately from the videos, if they are original and creative enough to warrant copyright protection.

You will be applying either electronically or on paper. Paper registration costs a bit more ($65) so electronic filings can be preferred by many. The copyright website provides information on how to answer each of the questions asked on the application.

You will need for the application a title for your work (just something to identify it for indexing), a description of your work (this can be brief), your name as author or creator of the work, the dates of creation and first publication (if published), your contact information, and copies of your works (for three-dimensional works, you would provide a two-dimensional representation - like a photograph - as "identifying material").

The purpose behind a lot of the questions is to adequately identify the works being registered.

And, if you plan to market your cartoons, you can also seek trademark protection for any name you choose to identify your works as a whole.

I think you would be smart to sit down with an attorney in your area to discuss protection for your works prior to publication (online or elsewhere).

Good luck.

 

[Glitch]

Thank you again for your fast and informative reply.

I think I have a better idea now of how to proceed. Thanks for the help !!

 

[quincy]

Thank you again for your fast and informative reply.

I think I have a better idea now of how to proceed. Thanks for the help !!

You're welcome, Glitch. Thank you for the thanks.

I wish you success with your cartoon videos.