Copyright

This is not meant to be legal advice or a complete writing on the topic of copyright.  This is only a general guide.  The best place to get copyright help and advice is from an attorney.  Each persons circumstances are different and different rules may apply.  Ultimately, the only way to get a final rule about a copyright situation is from a court of law.  An attorney can advise you as to the law, but only a court can give a legal ruling.  There are many places on the internet to get information about copyright law, the best being the horses mouth, the US Government Copyright Office Site.  Here I will only give a general overview of copyright.  It is your responsibility to check into all the factors involved in whatever you are doing.

What is Copyright?
Copyright is protection provided to authors of an original work.  It does not matter if the work is published or unpublished.  Copyright protection begins immediately open creation in a fixed form.  Section 106 of the Copyright Act gives the owner of a copyright certain exclusive rights to do and to authorize others to

1. To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords
2. To prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted material
3. To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.
4. To perform the copyrighted work publicly
5. To display the copyrighted work publicly

NOTE:  Some information on this site was taken directly from the Copyright Office.

If you are an employee who created a work, it is considered a work made for hire, and as such the employer holds the copyright ownership.  A work made for hire, is defined as:

1. a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or
2. a work specifically ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work...

Ownership of a work, such as a book, painting, record, tape, etc., does not give the possessor ownership of the copyright.  For instance, if you go out and buy a book, copyright ownership is not transferred to you when you purchase the book.  A similar example would be in the purchase of software.  There is a common misconception that when you purchase a particular piece of software that you own the rights to that software and should be able to share it, distribute it, etc., whenever to whomever you like.  That is NOT the case.  When you purchase software, you are not actually purchasing the software.  You are purchasing a license to use the software.  Generally if you read the license agreement it will specifically state the requirements of use and that is usually set to one machine for a single user license.  The same is true of music CD's, movies, etc.  You are not purchasing the actual material, but a license to use the material in the manner prescribed in the licensing agreement.

The are many works that are not protected by copyright law and they include:

1. Works that have NOT been fixed in a tangible form.
2. Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans: familiar symbols or designs, mere listings of ingredients or contents.
3. Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration.
4. Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship.  For example, standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources.

A very important point is that with the current copyright law, you do not need to mark your work with a copyright symbol or notification in order to own the copyright to your original work.  However, if you do not, you place an extra burden on yourself to prove the work is yours and to alert potential persons who might take the work and try to claim it as their own, that it is copyrighted work.  Your work is copyrighted legally as soon as you create the work in a tangible form.  Another important point to note is that if you do not register the work, it will be very hard if not impossible to pursue a cause of action against a copyright infringement.

"The use of a copyright notice is not required on a work created after March 1, 1989, however, use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the owner, and shows the year of first publication.  If the work is infringed, if a proper copyright notice appears on the published work to which the defendant in a suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant's interposition of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages"......."Innocent infringement occurs when the infringer did not realize that the work was protected."   There are three elements in a proper copyright notice:

1. The symbol ©, the word "Copyright", or the abbreviation "Copr"
2. The year of first publication
3. The name of the copyright owner

Example:  Copyright 1999 Vikki Dawson

The above example is a valid copyright notice.

Term of Copyright

In 1998 the Sono Bono Term Extension Act was passed and signed by President Clinton.  What this did was extend copyright terms by 20 years.   Anything that was in the public domain at this time stayed in the public domain.   Generally, that means that anything with a copyright notice of 1922 or before should be in the public domain.  Anything that was in it's first or second term at the time of signing was extended 20 years.  To be absolutely safe, anything that has a copyright notice of 95 years ago is public domain, which essentially means anything with a copyright notice of 1904 and before is public domain.  If you have an old works that has no copyright notice on it, don't immediately consider it public domain.  You will need to research the work and find out the actual date.  Copyright infringement is a serious matter with serious penalties.  The only way to finally prove a public domain work is to get a judgement from a court.  Short of that, which is very expensive, is to do your utmost to prove the work you want to use.  The best way to accomplish this is to make sure you have the original front cover of the work with a copyright notice, the original back cover of the work, and all the contents of the work.  Very important is to have visual proof of the copyright notice.  If you don't have this, don't bother with the work until you can prove it.  It's not worth it.

Fair Use

Don't get confused and push the "fair use" provision of the copyright law.  "Fair use" is a highly debatable subject.   Before you decide to use the "Fair Use" rule, you had better do a lot of checking, and the best course of action would be to consult an attorney.

Copyright law is very complex and the only way to get the best answer to your questions is to contact an attorney.  There are also some very good sites that cover copyright much more than I have here.

PDInfo is a very valuable resource about researching a copyright, with links to legal sites, to resources filled with public domain materials.

American Memory is a great repository of public domain works, from sound, pictures, to writings.

US Government Copyright Office is a source for new legislation, the actual copyright law and much more.

The best course of action when creating a work is to affix a legal copyright notice and to register your work with the copyright office.  There are forms available online and detailed instructions and information about costs on the US Government Copyright Office site.  Nothing can protect you better than to take the time and expense to do this.  Registering a copyright is not that expensive and will be well worth it in the end.

I think one of the biggest problems with copyright infringement on the internet currently is the common misconception that current popular midi music is ok to put on your site.  That is wrong.  I don't say I agree or disagree with the laws, only that the law is the law.  If you currently are using midi music you acquired from a site on the internet, and that music is not public domain music you are asking for trouble.  Several midi music archives have been shut down just for this reason.  And some of those are being taken to court and fined.  If you want music on your site, find public domain music.  I have started a section for just that purpose on this site.  It will take some time to get the library completed, but I do have proof that all this music is public domain.

If you want to use current popular music, you would do best to go to BMI or ASCAP and purchase a license to use that music on your site.  That is the only legal way, unless of course you get license from the owners of the copyright explicitly.

The best way to be safe is to do your research.  ISP's are very careful about copyright infringement on their servers and not only may you be liable in a lawsuit, your site may be removed.  All your hard work gone because you didn't follow the rules.  I like to think of it this way:  If it were my original work, would I want everyone using it on their site?  Would it be ok with me if someone took my work and took credit for it, or just copied it and built a site with all my hard work?  I don't think I would appreciate that at all.  And as such, I don't believe the people who own copyrights to books, music, or artwork appreciate it either.  It almost comes down to common courtesy and respect for others belongings.  Take it how you like, but be warned copyright infringement is a serious offense and there are plenty of people ready, willing, and able to enforce their rights.  DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Some very informative reading can be found at these sites:

There are many, many, more resources on the internet than these.  Use search engines.  Research your subject.  Get comfortable in your copyright knowledge.  Learn where you stand.  Find and read recent copyright infringement cases.  See what happened.  Pay attention to the rulings.  Learn how the courts will decide in a given area.  Protect yourself with knowledge and remember, an attorney plays an important part in the information you may need.  Not everyone will need an attorney, but, when it doubt an attorney may be your best course of action.

APPELLATE DECISIONS

This section is devoted to appellate court decisions I come across regarding copyright.  The links to cases listed below may or may not deal directly with internet copyright.  However I feel they have bearing on the issues involved with copyright and the internet.  I am not a lawyer and my impression of the value of these cases is strictly my own opinion.  I am neither agreeing or disagreeing with the outcome of these cases.  I include them here so that others may make their own judgements.  Some of the cases go as far back as 1995, some may go back farther.  In making decisions about what you use whether on the internet or somewhere else, reading these legal decisions may help to answer some of your questions.

As I find more opinions I will post the URLs here.  These are very informative opinions and very valuable when making decisions of your own.  I include only appellate courts decisions as they are the final word on the outcome of a case.  Because one party won in a District Court does not necessarily mean that they will prevail upon appeal as you will see in some of the cases listed above.  Copyright is a very serious matter and when deciding on a course of action for your particular circumstances you would be well advised to do a lot of research before you take it upon yourself to use something created by someone else without permission or making sure that it is public domain.

If you find errors in this information, please feel free to let me know at vikki@web-helper.net .