COPYRIGHTS: PART 2, When Does Inspiration Become a Derivative Work?

Many of you wonder about what sets truly original work apart from derivative work. We often draw inspiration from various sources, so where do we draw the line?

A question I received recently: “There are thousands of books on leadership and all of them do not have super original ideas. Is each book a copyrighted original?”

First, let’s clarify that original does not mean “novel” or “innovative". It simply means not copied. That it was independently created without copying another work.

Derivative works are new, original creations that incorporate aspects of a pre-existing copyrighted work. The right to create derivative works is one of the exclusive rights you get as a copyright holder. Accordingly, you need permission from the copyright holder of the original work to create a derivative work legally.

Here's the tricky part: when does inspiration become a derivative work? Well, it depends 🙃.

For instance, your training that incorporates generic leadership skills is probably not considered a derivative work, while training that incorporates truly innovative skills might be.

To help you apply this, consider the concept of scenes a faire in literature. These are standard elements in a genre that are too generic to be copyrightable. For instance, sleeping in a casket, not going out in the sunlight, and being afraid of garlic are not copyrightable elements of a vampire novel.

On the other hand, if I write a novel about a vampire who goes to the dark side of the moon to avoid sunlight, any story based on that would likely be a derivative work.

When we are creating content and products as experts, we need to understand what elements are standard and not protectable so we don’t cross the fine line between inspiration and derivative work.

Let me close with this–the golden rule of copyrights: "If you didn't create it, you don't own it, and you can't use it without permission." Do unto others creative work as you would have them do unto you.

If you want to find out more about derivative works and copyrights, check out this episode of the Hourly to Exit podcast.​

Cheers! 🥂

Erin

P.S. For a free assessment to find out whether your expertise is copyrightable, click here.