Being In The Copy-Right
By The Masked Webmaster

New technology such as one touch scanning, right click downloading
and easy to use digital cameras make it so easy to grab pictures
and news articles. Copyright owners are taking aggressive measures to 
keep their stuff out of your webpage or presentation.

Some people either knowingly or unknowingly paste that comic of
"Dilbert" or "The 5th Wave" in their presentation or grab that
nifty flying logo and add it to their own stuff.

The Common Violator
There are those who know they are violating copyright law, but
figure that the chances are small anyone would notice.

One person has witnessed training manuals being blatantly
copied and reused, never did they hear the word "copyright"
at anytime at that job.

Most people think that if they claim they weren't aware
that this activity is going on, or were unaware of the legality
issues they will be safe - but that isn't the case.

Damages called Statutory damages can reach the tens of thousands
per violation. (Even higher for Willful violation, and yet higher
for "Actual" damages.)

Even with the fines to be concerned with, under some
circumstances it is also a felony!

"In one recent case, a corporation paid a seven-figure settlement for
 its unauthorized photocopying of articles from a trade journal and 
archiving those copies for internal distribution." - Dave Zielinski 
(3M.COM article)

A Common Problem
There are organizations now that even offer a "bounty" for violators,
to help encourage infringes to be turned in.

It would appear most of these infringes don't really realize
what constitutes legal and fair use.

75% Printed Training Materials were infringed -Training Media 
Association 1993 survey

Managers are trying to save money by making these reproductions,
and not thinking about the consequences.

According to The Copyright Act, the works are protected as soon as
the material is first printed, (including film, email for example.)

And the new Digital Millennium Copyright laws are even more strict.

Whether you know it or not - The lack of a -COPYRIGHT notice
doesn't mean that is still isn't copywritten! 

Copyright Under The Microscope
Copyright is applicable to original expression. Ideas, news and facts 
cannot be copyrighted, only the way in which that idea or 
fact is written/conveyed. 

Copyright protection is valid for the lifetime of the author, plus another 70 years. 
Items older than that of course become Public Domain.

That's not to say you can just go out and use Mozart, because the
person playing Mozart owns the rights to their performance.
So if the Tampa Bay orchestra plays Mozart, and you use their
performance, you had better have their permission.

What other things are considered public domain?
Items produced by the Government, since we all technically
own the material. (If you are a foreign person, then you
should consult laws in your area.)

You don't have to profit from the violation in order to 
be held reliable either. Just using the material is sufficient.

How to avoid these problems in the first place - if you are
in doubt, get permission first. Treat all content as copywritten
even if you have an idea they may not be.

Fair Use and a Fair Warning
There are fair use clauses in copyright law, however you
have to tread carefully in this area, and with the new
laws, most of these exceptions have been nullified.

Big Brother IS watching
Remember in today's world we have watermark technology, tracking
software, special search engines and other means of discovering
your copyright infringement.

THIS EVEN INCLUDES AUDIO, which goes to prove, that technology
advances so quickly that blatant infringement is a very very bad
idea. They can even prove where the files originated and whom
else owns a shared copy. This can equal hundreds of independent
counts of infringement with their own fines for each account.


What To Do - To Stay Legal?
1 Buy a royalty free or clipart package
Before purchasing images or audio from vendors that offer
"royalty free" content, make sure they are a legal dealer
and actually have rights to resell you their content they are
offering. There are some scammers out there that are outright
selling bootlegs of practically everything.

2 Get permission
Contacting people to gain permission can often be problematic,
there are situations where there is no known way of contacting them,
changed email/phone numbers, they have moved, or worse case
scenario they have died, leaving their works in a very
questionable state. There is also the question of the material
being owned by the author or the publisher of the material.

It can be frustrating since some material may be required
on a deadline. Especially if you publish a monthly
magazine or newsletter.

On the flipside, sometimes an email link leads straight
to the author, and many times they will allow you to
publish without cost, or with simply providing them
the proper credit.

Editors Note: Many sites, this one included, often has
a Re-publishing policy, you should refer to before you
waste your time or theirs.

3 Use only public-domain or free material
Assumption something is public domain is no defense, and
you will still face fines even if you were not aware
the content was published illegally. Don't assume just
because the information is freely viewable on the internet
that you can reuse it or copy it.

4 News and Facts 
Remember ideas and facts can't be copywritten, so you
can use those news stories, but you are going to have to
re-write the entire article in order to use it.
This can be better anyway, since it will have your own
personal touch to the information.

5 Do It Yourself
Even if you are not an artist or writer, there are so many
tools out there right now, that even those who aren't
artistically inclined can still make some pretty neat stuff.

If you are basing your writing on another book or story,
then you may even *still* be infringing, its called 
"derivative works".

Remember use common sense. If you have to ask whether
something is copywritten then it probably IS.


In Conclusion
Even though you figure no one will know, don't play it to odds,
it could cost you a substantial fine, and even your job itself.

Resources
Digital Millennium Copyright
Fair Use Guidelines
Copyright Myths