Copyright

Copyright

The first issue you should be aware of when you decide to publish an original work is the issue of copyright.  Under U.S. law copyright exists on all original works as soon as they are created, whether they are published or unpublished.  No registration is required in order for the copyright to be in effect, however, registration may be necessary if you wish to bring about a lawsuit over infringed work.  Find out more information at copyright.gov

Creative Commons License

There is also an option that now exists which allows a creator of an original work to license that work for use by others. It is called the Creative Commons License. Creative Commons offers a few licensing structures which are all less restrictive than the typical “All Rights Reserved” provided under U.S. law.  This allows an author to allow licensees(end users) to modify, distribute, etc. as long as they give credit to the original author.  There are six licenses in all with varying authority given to the licensee. Find out more information a creativecommons.org