Copywrite Vs. Copyright – Which One to Use, What Is the Difference?

While these words sound very similar, they have different meanings and are called homophones. copywrite vs. copyright has initiated a debate multiple times due to one’s use in the other’s place. Spell-checks only work by tallying a spelling used from the dictionary to see if the word exists, regardless of whether it makes sense with the sentence. It is seldom that the spell-check in your phone or your computer identifies your mistake of copywriting or copyright.

Hence, it is important to learn to differentiate Copywrite from the copyright and use them accordingly. copywriting vs. copyright may seem intimidating in the text but they get easier to use once you understand their differences.

What is Copyright?

Copyright, a noun, is a legal means of claiming exclusive ownership over any personal work. This may include any form of art, ideas, written text such as scripts, or a simple word, such as the name of a shop or a restaurant. Once the copyright claims have been set over a work of creativity, a foreign party without permission or due payment from the owner cannot use the said article.

While the definition itself must clear out a lot of doubts regarding copywrite vs. copyright, an elaborated explanation will make it a lot easier for you to understand the difference. A content creator or a writer deserves recognition for his or her piece of work, regardless of how small it may be, and using copyrights ensures this. When you use copyrights for your content, it prevents it from being used by people who do not have ownership. If, in any case, your original content has been copied or recreated by a foreign party, it is considered stolen and hence, illegal.

Once you post original content on the web, you automatically get copyright claims for your work. Examples of dealing with copyright content may include:

• If you only allow read permissions for your document, nobody viewing the piece of writing will be able to edit or copy it.
• Foreign or unknown parties may be able to use your content for their work based on some conditions. These conditions may include a payment or subscription, or a simple access request.
• To use copyright content, it is essential to always give credit to the owner of the abstract.

Examples of Copyright

We understand that copywrite vs. copyright may be a difficult concept to grasp. However, you will find it easier to decide whether to use copywrite or copyright with these examples.

• Anna used copyright images in her school presentation, which was later flagged.
• After years of effort, Samantha finally secured the copyright for the name of her bakery.
• It is not easy to use any music available on YouTube due to copyright claims.
• The group project could have been sued, had the students not mentioned the source of the copyright piece of information.

How Can You Copyright Your Content?

Although your content automatically gets copyrighted the moment you put it in word, image, or a recording, there are ways to officially copyright it. Officially copyrighting your content includes registering your piece of work with the U.S. Copyright Office. To do this, visit copyright.gov and get started by simply filling out an online registration form. The fee for getting copyright claims over your art or any creation ranges from about US $35 to $55.

After you are registered, a copy of your work has to be sent to the U.S. Copyright Office via mail or web. Then you have to wait for them to get back to you. Once your work is registered, nobody will be allowed to use it without your permission!

What is Copywrite?

Copywrite itself may not be a word, but its derivative ‘Copywriter’ is a noun. A Copywriter is someone who works as an advertising writer. The text written for advertising purposes may include product descriptions, scripts, slogans, taglines, or anything that has originated from the Copywriter’s efforts.

Most of the Copywriter’s work revolves around writings for promoting a brand. These writings could be in the form of:

• Brochures
• Catalogs
• Magazines
• Sales letters

Many of us struggle to get our head around copywrite vs. copyright. A different way to explain copywrite could be:

You are designing a webpage for your newly opened thrift shop. Like any other website, this one needs pictures too, such as photos of your products, your staff, or the well-designed aesthetic interior of your shop. Along with the visual element, you must need text for your webpage content. This is where the role of a Copywriter comes in. You may hire a Copywriter to write an ‘About’ page for your website, product descriptions, etc.

Examples of Copywrite

As mentioned earlier, the word copywrite itself does not exist. Hence, we will be using the derivate words of copywriting, such as copywriting and Copywriter, for a better understanding of the term. Examples of copywrite include:

• If you are looking for work as a Copywriter, you will first need to understand why companies hire freelancers for copywriting projects.
• Noah said he would love to know more about copywriting and asked his Copywriter friend to be his temporary mentor.
• The journalism agency urgently needed a Copywriter to hire for their recent project.
• While a Copywriter is confused with a general writer, these two are different specialties for freelancers.

Copywriting vs. Copyright

As if the homophones copywrite vs. copyright were not already confusing enough, then arises this question, can copywriting be copyrighted? Of course, any copywriting, such as artistic, literary, or musical work, is open to copyrights. You can always register copyright claims for your blog posts. Now that copywrite vs. copyright seems to make a lot more sense, it is impossible to think of the two words co-existing.

However, there is a slight overlap between them. In most cases, you may not personally own copyrights to your work as a professional Copywriter. The said work falls under the umbrella of ‘works made for hire.’ While the copyright exists, it may just not be the Copywriters.

Copywriting vs. Technical Writing

It is a common belief that copywriting is mainly concerned with sales, marketing, and other advertising content. However, that may not always be true. Some Copywriters often do technical writing if they have a technical bias. The main difference between Copywriters and traditional writers is that Copywriters write to sell while traditional writers write to explain. Then comes a third category – the technical Copywriters. Copywriters who also specialize in technical writing can register to sell and to explain.

Both of them, however, the Copywriter and the technical writer, would require a defined statement of scope to deliver the work that you need.

Conclusion

If you are having trouble grasping the concept of copywrite vs. copyright, you may find it easier if you split the words in your head. This way, copyright would be copy + right, where you require authorization or rights to proceed to copy something. Similarly, copywrite would be copy + write, which means the writer of personally created content.

Head onto our website to explore our writing agency and learn more about copywrite vs. copyright, in addition to a plethora of other similar topics.