Here's the situation: I filed to copyright my screenplay a little while ago. This screenplay started out (about a decade ago, now) as a novel that is not going to be published. I got an e-mail today from the Library of Congress today stating "It appears that your script has been adapted from a book you previously registered. If you used text from the book in the script, please authorize me to add a Limitation of Claim statement as shown below: 1. Material Excluded: Text, book 2. Material Included: Text, script If the situation is otherwise, please explain."
For the screenplay itself, I used the same names as in the novel. I also used some of the same scenarios as well as the general story. My question is this: should I say I used text from the book, or try to explain otherwise?
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I'm trying to understand. Why would you change the text in the book or screenplay? One is derived from the other, correct? Also, I haven't registered with LOC before but I have with the WGA-West. I only think that they open documentation if someone makes a claim against your work. Is that what happened?
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The main point is that you have a screenplay connected to a novel and you want that to be clear that the screenplay is based on intellectual property, which you own.
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I do that all the time with later drafts resulting from extensive revision. Do not bother to explain; the fish-eyed examiner will ignore it. Simply exclude (or agree to have the examiner do so) any and all related prior works, whether performing arts or literature, then pay your fees, and yer good to go.
DO NOT even try to pass others' IP off as your own. The USPTO have powerful search tools to detect plagiarism.
Tieuel Legacy When I went to write it as a screenplay, I realized that I did a poor job at writing the story (too predictable, way too long, boring, etc.) so I decided to do it all over again. The general story, as well as the character names, are all the same. But a lot did change in the transition.
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Christopher Phillips I wonder if it makes a difference that the novel wasn't published.
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A.S. Templeton thanks!
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"I wonder if it makes a difference that the novel wasn't published." No. It matters that the related work in whichever stage of revision was previously registered.
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A.S. Templeton is correct. Only thing that matters is that you created a body of work, the novel in this case, and it is your intellectual property.