Copyright Group copyrighting files

[Kodo]

Jurisdiction

Michigan

I understand you can group copyright 10 items at the copyright office. Maybe rather than worry about someone bothering us, we should just copyright our work and not worry about it.

After looking over the site Im guessing .stl or .gcode files would fall under visual arts?

But I didnt see any reference of the copyright site to those exact file types. Are we at least looking in the right place to copyright our work?

Thank you

 

[zddoodah]

I understand you can group copyright 10 items at the copyright office.

No. You can, in some cases, register multiple, related works using a single application.

Maybe rather than worry about someone bothering us, we should just copyright our work and not worry about it.

A copyright is a group of exclusive rights held by the author of a work of authorship or someone whose rights derive from the author. The word "copyright" is not properly used as a verb. Registration confers additional and significant rights, but it is not a prerequisite to the existence of a copyright. I'm not sure who "we" are or why you're concerned about someone bothering you.

After looking over the site Im guessing .stl or .gcode files would fall under visual arts?

No idea what those things are, but any number of types of works of authorship may be stored in computer files, depending on their content.

Are we at least looking in the right place to copyright our work?

I don't know. Please describe your work using something other than computer file extension and explain your concerns about someone bothering you.

 

[Zigner]

STL is a file that contains the definition of an object in a stereo lithography code. The GCODE is a file that is generated by another program using the STL file as input. The GCODE file tells a machine how to produce the object. While I believe that STL files are something for which IP rights could attach, I don't believe that the resultant GCODE file would have such rights attached. Of course, if a person hand-writes a GCODE file, then such rights may attach...

 

[Kodo]

STL is a file that contains the definition of an object in a stereo lithography code. The GCODE is a file that is generated by another program using the STL file as input. The GCODE file tells a machine how to produce the object. While I believe that STL files are something for which IP rights could attach, I don't believe that the resultant GCODE file would have such rights attached. Of course, if a person hand-writes a GCODE file, then such rights may attach...

Thank you, that was very useful information.