"Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit"
On one hand, if you're a proud author and have invested a lot of
time and effort to write and assemble the material for an excellent
Web site, of course you are incensed when the lazy REALTOR® in the
office next door or across the country copies your hard work without
your permission and publishes it as his/her own.
On the other hand, if you're staring at a blank page in your
word processor, and you have a serious shortage of time and
inspiration, why not snag something you've seen that you like, save
the photos from your browser, change a word of text here and there,
and make it yours? After all, material on the Web is in the public
domain, isn't it? If you can link to it, you can copy it, right?
The Answer Is A Resounding NO
Unless the material clearly states "Public Domain" almost
everything on the Web is covered by copyright law. This includes
text, photographs, artwork, music, html coding, javascripts.
Everything! Even if a page doesn't contain a specific copyright
notice clearly displayed, the material is still legally protected.
People who would never consider stealing money or jewelry think
nothing of appropriating text, pictures, layouts, ideas. Using
someone else's work without permission is in fact THEFT. You can get
in big trouble for stealing!
We actually encountered a situation recently where a prospective
customer asked us to copy an entire Web site - fonts, colors,
layout, illustrations - change the logos, names, places, and put it
up as their own. Of course we wouldn't do that. We were shocked that
these otherwise 'honest' citizens thought nothing of stealing.
Derivative Work
Copyright law also covers derivative work. In an excellent
article, "What
Is Copyright Protection?", the author, R. Delgado-Martinez
states the issue succinctly, "What if I take someone else's
writings, text, HTML or graphic image and change it around to suit
my needs? I own the "new" version, right? If you did any of that
with the original owner's permission, and according to his/her terms
and conditions than (sic) you own the "new" version. If not you may
be committing copyright infringement and/or plagiarism."
In short, changing someone else's work without permission does
not entitle you to use it as your own.
The bottom line is: if you steal someone else's work, you are
likely to eventually get caught. There are methods, for example,
of invisible watermarking of digitized photographs. The
lay-person has no idea how to detect this. But a watermark can easily be
revealed by special software. It's a dead-giveaway that the photo
belongs to someone else.
If You Still Don't "Get It"…
We ran across the following illustration many years ago on the Web
when first researching copyright infringement.
Suppose you have a
section on your Web site about professional sports in your city. You
take your camera to an NFL game to make photos for posting at your
site.
When teams, players, or the stadium is identifiable, in order to
legally use your private photos at your commercial Web site, you
need to get the permission of the NFL, the permission of the stadium
owner, the permission of the team owners, and the permission of any
player whose face or number shows in the photos.
Can You Protect Your Original Work In Court?
Suppose someone copies your work at their Web site and then
refuses to remove the offending material per your request to do so.
You must litigate to force compliance. Does your material have to be
legally copyrighted through the US Copyright Office in order for you
to win in court?
Obviously, going through the copyright process every time you
change your site is an impossible task. A simple protective measure
you might want to employ, however, is to print the material (or put
it on floppy disk), and mail it to yourself in an envelope that
shows a clear postmark.. Don't use a postage meter, and don't open
the envelope when you receive it. That way, you will at least have
some officially dated "proof" that you originated the material. You
probably wouldn't want to get into a legal battle with a huge,
deep-pockets company like Microsoft relying on such 'proof', but
it's certainly better than nothing for situations where you believe
an individual appropriated your work.
Disclaimer
We are not attorneys and are not offering legal advice in this
article. We are simply trying to lay the groundwork for you to
educate yourself in what's permissible and what's not regarding
copyright law. Always consult your attorney for legal advice.
Links For In-Depth Information
The following links provide in-depth information on copyright law
and infringement as well as penalties and remedies.
- What
Is Copyright Protection?
By R. Delgado-Martinez.)
This is a good primer written in understandable language. It
explains what's covered by copyright.
-
Duration of Copyright
Please remember, with music even if the composition was written
long before copyright law, the performance of the piece is most
likely copyrighted by the musicians.
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