How do you know that someone big company has already stolen from you

[Guest Zevattack]

What happens if you submit a fan fiction here that you have written long time ago and had submitted to big company such as Disney? They deny even receiving and admit using things from their submissions? What if they did and you have no idea of it?

[BronxWench]

We really aren’t able to offer you any sort of advice, legal or otherwise, about any dispute you may have with Disney. What we will do, if there is any question of ownership of a story uploaded to AFF, is to investigate and make a decision based on our findings.

[JayDee]

Zombie Charles Perrault is still pissed. 

[SisterWine]

If you copyright your work, you should be fine. I’ve already had a piece stolen from me and put up on Kindle. I managed to get it removed but the damage is done. 

Another idea to keep it yours would be, to write it with a heading of “Don’t Plagiarize. ” Or, if you finish it, don’t post the final chapter. Or, complete it, print it, and mail it to yourself with a completed date on it. The postage mark acts as a copyright date and seal. It will hold up in court. 

[Desiderius Price]

US Copyright registration, for a single book/author (not for hire), is $45.  Whether that’s worth it or not, is up to you.

[BronxWench]

Only original work can be copyrighted, of course. Fan fiction, due to the very nature of the beast, is not something you can copyright since the copyright belongs to the actual owner of the fandom for which you’ve written.

I recall reading somewhere (and buggered if I can remember where) that the copyright on an original work is not necessarily preserved simply by mailing yourself a copy of the work in question, even if you never open the postmarked envelope. As @Desiderius Price points out, filing for copyright registration for an original work is actually quite inexpensive.