CIPO'd

Hi gang.

Yesterday morning I phoned the CIPO about my copyright issue related to The Unearthing. Seems I was given the wrong info the last time I called.

What ARE the odds? A government employee who was misinformed?

I can't CHANGE an existing copyright without a court order; instead I have to file for a NEW copyright with the NEW name of the work!

Well, as I already filed and paid I asked them to sort it out and finally, after explaining the same thing to two different people and having them tell me (twice, each) that what I did was wrong, I finally got someone to agree to ammend the NEW copyright so that it reflects the correct title, "The Unearthing".

THEN she tells me she doesn't understand why I'm doing this, because proof of copyright ownership is ASSUMED to belong to the author and that it isn't necessary to prove that ownership to the publisher; the only necessity of a copyright is to "protect the work".

Well, the publisher I'm dealing with requires PROOF of ownership, and frankly I don't think tha's a bad thing.

But they're not supposed to in Canada.

But I'm publishing with an American firm.

Why aren't I publishing with a Canadian firm?

Because none of the Canuck bastards who deal in sci-fi wanted to touch my work, that's why.

Oh. I see.

So, now on top of everything else, I assume I'm being put down in some CanLit secret file as a "Disloyal Canadian".

And, just what fucking business is it of the CIPO who I publish with, anyway? It's my book, and while no Canadian publishers have ever expressed an interest in my work, and given that one unnamed publisher was quite condescending in his rejection of my work, do I have any reason at all to be loyal to the Canadian publishing industry, which, for the most part is a sattelite of the American publishing industry? I think not.

Getting this book published is turning out to be so much of a pain in the ass I half expect to hear the snap of a rubber glove and a raspy voice telling me to relax and take it.