Help with patent, copyright, etc....please?

Question

Im about to release a comic book in about a month. We have been working on this for a year almost and its a dream to get it out. however im very scared that ill do this and someone will pick it up and steal it. Along with that i want rights to all its merchandise we are releasing and a future movie idea.

However with a copyright i read that it protects the work itself. As in say issue 1, and all the words. But it wont protect the designs, names, or ideas? So someone can go and make issue 2 without getting in trouble? I know that copyright is imidiate upon the first time its done, but paying for it to be registered protects my lawsuite right?

With a patent it actually protects the idea and the characters correct? I would file for a patent would be better? Dont bother copying and pasting what these are, ive read them both a ton of times and im lost now.

Also im mailing the first issue to myself without opening the envelope, what does this protect?

Answer 1

A copyright will protect the content of the work in the sense that somebody else will not be able to publish it and make money without your consent.  A patent will only protect for an invention based on a new apparatus or method for using it or a composition of matter.  I do not have much experience with trademarks, but I know that you could get a trademark for the logo, name of the book and other distinctive traits (i.e. batman logo, catch phrases etc.) which would protect you a bit more.  Nobody would want to buy a fake X-men comic called Y-men right?

My girlfriend has told me one way to protect your art is to take a picture of it and mail it to yourself with a dated post-mark so that if you ever did end up in court it could be used as evidence.  I imagine this would provide some proof, but could also be forged if one really wanted to.

I think the safest bet is to copyright the content and trademark at least the title to protect any other profits you may obtain later such as t-shirts and mechandise.

Not sure if that helped, but good luck!