Get help, advice and information on all your Legal issues. http://advice-and.info/Legal/copyright.htm Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:37:09 GMT en If you steal materials from someone else and use it at your website, you might get away with it. Its possible that no one will notice. Even if someone does notice, you will probably just receive an email asking for its removal. If you comply with that request, nothing else will happen to you. http://advice-and.info/Legal/61855_Why_You_Should_Respect_Copyright_Notices.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:57:02 GMT If all else fails, you can file a copyright infringement lawsuit. This remedy has some drawbacks. Litigation can be costly. In many cases, the likely value of the misappropriated material and any damages received will be less than the amount obtainable in a judgment. http://advice-and.info/Legal/61705_Taking_A_Copyright_Thief_To_Court.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:00:47 GMT The terms plagiarism and copyright violation are often used interchangeably. Although that may work well for most dinner table conversations, its actually incredibly incorrect. Not all acts of plagiarism are copyright violations and the two concepts are actually quite distinct. Copyright violation refers to the use of protected material without the appropriately expressed consent of the owner. If you take a poem I have written and to which I hold copyright and then place it on your website, you are violating my copyright. You are breaking the law. http://advice-and.info/Legal/61704_The_Fine_Line_Between_Plagerism_And_Copyright_Violation.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:59:11 GMT There are many myths surrounding the issue of copyright. One of the most common is the idea that there is some sort of universally accepted international copyright protection. As nice as it would be in our global economy to have some sort of clear international regime in place to govern copyrights and their violations, there is none. There is no international copyright protection. http://advice-and.info/Legal/61703_International_Copyright_Protection_Fact_Or_Myth.html Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:18:44 GMT In 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act became a U.S. law. This controversial legislation was designed to bring copyright law in line with developing technologies and to afford protection to rights in the Internet environment. Though vast in scope, one particular area of DMCA is of special interest to those who are suffering from an online copyright infringement. It stems from the Safe Harbor Provisions in Section 512 of the law. http://advice-and.info/Legal/61695_How_To_Stop_Online_Copyright_Infringement_With_A_Dmca_Complaint.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:31:20 GMT Copyright law is a means of securing legal protection of your ownership of a publication or another type of intellectual property, such as a website or a blog. If you publish a book and sign a contract with a publisher, you normally agree to relinquish all rights to the work until a certain condition is met. This can be a length of time, in which case you will start to earn royalties after your book has been in print for a certain number of months. It can also be a price, which would be the total royalties that your book must earn before you start getting paid. This price is normally your publishing advance, so when your book has made more than your advance, you start earning royalties. When you publish a book, a website or a blog you automatically establish ownership of that content, whether you sign a contract or not. International copyright law can be extremely complicated, with many different clauses and conditions. However, the standard copyright for any publication is the life of the author plus fifty years. Once this time is over, the copyright of the publication could fall into the hands of any number of entities. Your copyright usually falls into the public domain, but you could have a special clause in your contract stipulating otherwise. http://advice-and.info/Legal/55936_Copyright_Law_And_Legal_Protection_Of_Your_Work.html Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:52:42 GMT Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as simple as not using someone elses work, its not that easy. Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many other organizations, we have the ability to use others works -- as long as we use it under Fair Use laws. So what does Fair Use have to do with copyright infringement, and how can you utilize it? Fair Use laws allow us to use a copyrighted work without having to pay someone royalties. This includes using a copyrighted work for educational or instructional uses, criticism of the work, commentaries on the work, news reporting about the work, teaching on the work (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship uses, and research. This is talked about fully in Section 107 of the Copyright Code (commonly called Fair Use) and is available for you to read at your local library. http://advice-and.info/Legal/51708_How_To_Avoid_Copyright_Infringement.html Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:41:36 GMT Many people have pursued the hobby of downloading movies and songs on the Internet and sharing them with their friends and family online. However, this is direct violation of U.S. copyright laws. Not surprisingly, the biggest violators of the movie copyright laws are students. The movie industry is sending out copyright infringement claims to college universities around the country. One reason that college students may be the hardest hit is that they are not aware of how serious a crime copyright infringement is. Many college students who have lawsuits brought against them are shocked, to say the least. They question why they were not warned about the perils of downloading movies and songs online and passing them along to friends. However, with the rise of claims, no one can claim ignorance for much longer. Word is being spread near and far that if you engage in illegal downloading andor sharing, then you can be brought to court. College students are learning the hard way that it is against the law and in violation of copyright laws to share or download copyrighted material. Many colleges and universities now state in their handbooks that it is against the law to illegally download movies, music and other forms of media using school computers. http://advice-and.info/Legal/51369_Why_You_Must_Obey_Movie_Copyright_Laws_In_The_Digital_Age.html Sat, 02 Jun 2007 22:11:02 GMT Copyright infringement cases can be both costly and time consuming. Considering copyright infringement is something that isnt as easily defined as theft or speeding, there are numerous copyright infringement cases changing the way copyright law is viewed in the U.S. By reviewing a few of these copyright infringement cases, you can get a better idea of what is, and what is not, acceptable use of copyrighted works. As a forward, however, youll need to know something about copyright law. Most copyright lawsuits are brought to the courts because a copyright owner has found their copyright is being used outside the copyright laws. This usually means the copyright holder hadnt been asked for permission to use the work; or if they had, the work is not being used in an agreed-upon context or they have not been paid royalties. The copyright infringement cases, listed below, sample of what goes to the Supreme Court in copyright infringement. http://advice-and.info/Legal/51367_Copyright_Infringement_Cases_Can_Teach_Us_To_Obey_Copyright_Laws.html Sat, 02 Jun 2007 02:03:25 GMT A copyright infringement lawsuit can occur for any number of reasons: someone using a song in a podcast or radio program, a writer borrowing information from another work, copying video or mp3 off the Internet without permission (or sometimes, even to another CD or DVD). Copyright infringement lawsuits are not generally brought to the average person, unless theyre downloading a LOT of music or movies, but usually for large operations: software pirates reselling goods on eBay or to some other unsuspecting victim, someone sampling a song to make another, or maybe a person reselling mp3s online. When you understand the implications of it, copyright infringement lawsuits arent frivolous as some people think. For the most part, the average persons familiarity with a copyright infringement lawsuit is taking down copyrighted material after receiving a nasty email. http://advice-and.info/Legal/51365_Copyright_Infringement_Lawsuits_Affect_Individuals_And_Businesses.html Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:03:31 GMT Copyright lawyers deal with many different subjects such as Internet law, intellectual property, patents and trademarks, and of course, your copyright laws. Each lawyer has attended school for some time to get a degree to help you, which means they know more about the law than you do. Some mistakes website owners make is when they buy articles online; many times a buyer assumes they have full copyright. This isnt always the case, depending on the agreement of ownership. To make sure you dont fall into this trap, you should have a lawyer create a contract before you hand over any money; this way you know for sure if you have full ownership or if the writer does. You have three different categories you may purchase an article: usage, full, and unique. A copyright lawyer will explain exactly what each one means. Usage means the buyer gets to use the article one time, but the writer can use it again or resell it. Full rights will give the buyer all rights; they can even place their name on the article, saying they wrote it. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50595_Everything_You_Need_To_Know_About_A_Copyright_Lawyer.html Thu, 24 May 2007 07:23:31 GMT Many people are interested in the Fair Use copyright law. The Fair Use copyright law enables people to use portions of material that is copyrighted for the purposes of criticism or as commentary. The hard part for many people is understanding what is permissible under the Fair Use copyright law and what is not permissible. Anyone who writes or publishes should brush up on what is allowed and what is not allowed. Using another persons words to make news reports, to use as a comment or criticism or to use for research, scholarship, or for educational uses that are nonprofit are generally considered Fair Use. In these instances, the Fair Use copyright law allows one person or author to make use of another person or authors work without asking permission to do so. In situations that do not fall within these specifications, you are probably violating someones copyright if you use their work especially if you are using another persons work for economic or commercial gain. When you are trying to see if you can use anothers words, you should keep a few things in mind. The answer to the following questions will help you gage whether you would be violating a copyright. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50583_What_Is_Fair_Use_Copyright_Law.html Thu, 24 May 2007 07:16:20 GMT Many people are surprised to learn there is no international copyright law. Yes, that is right. There is not an international copyright law that will protect your work on the other side of the world. However, it is important to note that most countries do offer some form of protection known as foreign works. International conventions and treaties have done a lot to protect owners of copyrights around the world. With the world seemingly becoming smaller every day, the United States took a look at its stance on the European copyright treaty known as the Berne Convention. Basically, the Berne Convention of 1886 involved European nations coming together to seek a uniform copyright law to keep their copyright owners from having to register for copyrights in individuals European countries. The United States signed on to the Berne Convention introduced made it into a U.S. law known as the Berne Implementation Act of 1988. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50280_What_Is_International_Copyright_Law.html Tue, 22 May 2007 05:59:32 GMT With the popularity of the Internet, many people are violating music copyright law and do not even know it. Music copyright law can be very tricky. There are multiple music copyrights that you must keep in mind lyrics, composition and the recording of the music by an artist. Using someones music may involve you acquiring many different licenses such as mechanical, synchronization, performance and publishing licenses. Music copyright law has separate copyrights for the vocal or instrumental recordings of a composition or performance and the copyright of the written lyrics and music. Standard music copyrighting practices usually entail that the writer of the song retains the rights to the right to the music composition which the studio that did the recording of the music holds the rights of the recording. Music copyright law can get very complicated. It can involve negotiations with the writers, producers, agents, heirs and more. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50277_What_Is_Music_Copyright_Law.html Tue, 22 May 2007 07:04:37 GMT When you hear about people caught of copyright infringement, many different things can happen to them. First, copyright infringement is both a civil and criminal crime, so people caught of copyright infringement are likely to get both sued and tried in criminal court. Because of the nature of copyright laws, if and when people are caught of copyright infringement, its likely they will get repercussions from far and wide. People are always looking for others violating copyright laws. Copyright owners andor agents surf the Internet, so they may find the violations themselves. Usually, if someone finds a person violating their copyright rights, theyll notify the person or entities involved and ask they permanently remove the content, if its available on the Internet. They do this by either asking the person directly to take it down, or demanding the website server to take it down (which they will, immediately, and probably suspend the account). If the person or entity hosting the violation doesnt take it down, more serious actions will be taken, such as a lawsuit or criminal charge. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50269_Why_Are_People_Accused_Of_Copyright_Infringement.html Wed, 23 May 2007 22:52:16 GMT The US Copyright Law grants rights to individuals for the works they create. The US Copyright Act of 1790 has changed over the years. The current basis of US copyright law is based on the Copyright Act of 1976. US copyright law is relatively automatic. Once someone has an idea and produces it in tangible form, the creator is the copyright holder and has the authority to enforce his exclusivity to it. In other words, the person is the owner of the creation. It is not necessary that a person register their work. However, it is recommended and it can serve as evidence if someone ever violates a copyright. It is interesting to note that when an employer hires an employee to produce a work that the copyright is given to the employer. Violations of US Copyright Law are generally enforced in a civil court setting. However, there could also be criminal sanctions brought against someone who violates US copyright law. Someone in serious violation of US Copyright Law, such as counterfeiting, can find themselves on the inside of prison looking out. People need to understand the copyright symbol is not a requirement. Someone may have a copyright, yet their work may not have a copyright notice or symbol. http://advice-and.info/Legal/50006_What_Is_Us_Copyright_Law.html Fri, 18 May 2007 21:59:42 GMT