This two part Think'n'Do ™ Article, based on more than 20 years experience in publishing and international business raises a few issues about copyright and intellectual property aimed at provoking you to think about how these might apply to you.
(Think'n'Do
™ is a term originated by
Affiliate-master.com ™ to describe an article which provokes further
thought and provides suggestions for practical use.)
This is not a complete discussion of the entire field but, instead, focuses
on a few selected areas which may open your eyes to some possibilities that you hadn't faced before. In Part II I will offer some practical steps which you might use to benefit from the issues raised in
Part I.
- Copyright is almost automatic and you do not have to register your work, nor protect it in order to make it valid. In fact, it is not even necessary to publish something
for it to be protected.
- Universal or International copyright
does not exist. Copyright is not the same in all countries.
While many countries have agreements to respect US copyright and might have similar laws, the fine details and complications involved with their regulations might make any practical benefit impossible or at least impractical to achieve.
Since the internet is international,
you cannot depend on the laws of any single country to give you rights or to
protect rights which you have or think you have.
Take a simple example. You publish something on the internet on a US web host. Somebody in Lower Slabovia
copies that article and sells it to another person in Upper Orangutangnia. Neither of these countries has signed an agreement with the US to abide by or enforce US copyright. What are your rights or remedies? Absolutely nothing.
What if one of these countries does have an agreement with the US?
Chances are
this still has very little practical value because you might have to go to that country, or hire a lawyer in that country to pursue your interests. The cost of doing this might be far beyond anything you could hope to recover.
- You cannot copyright a word or a short phrase.
Sometimes
people
confuse a
Trademark
with Copyright.
An example of a trademark is Apple ™ when it is used as a brand of computer. You could not trademark the word apple as applied to a type of fruit, and you certainly could not copyright the word.
- It is NOT ALWAYS the author who gets an automatic copyright.
If you are employed to write something, your employer may be the legal owner of that copyright unless you make another agreement.
- Trademarks may be lost if the person who might own it does not take adequate steps to protect it.
Just
using
the
word
trademark or the symbol ™ following your trademark is, in effect telling the world that
you
claim
this
trademark, but it does not become absolutely legal until it is registered. In that case you may use the symbol ®.
- The term copyright or the symbol © can be used before or after the claim is registered.
It is customary and recommended to add the year the work was first published to establish the time frame the copyright covers. Example ©2004 Jack Feka is a public declaration that something was published in the year 2004 and Jack Feka claims the copyright.
- Copyright does not give you absolute control over everything.
For example there is a section of US copyright law which allows what is called "Fair Use" and may allow certain use of copyrighted material
without the owner's consent.
- You can claim virtually anything you want, especially if it is not illegal. Of course, in practice, there may be an enormous
difference between claiming something and really getting it.
- It's like the "asking price" on something you put up for sale, or the "value" somebody puts on a "free gift" that is included with a purchase. (You've seen the offers "Buy my get rich in 13 seconds course now for just $99.99 and I'll include $3,245.00 worth of extra bonus materials at no charge!).
- You can apply this same concept to copyright notices and republication permissions, for your own benefit. The fact that you suggest a higher than realistic value on something may cause others to have a higher appreciation of that item.
- Publishing copyright and trademark notices may have some benefits even it you have no intention of registering or pursuing any violations. Some of these are:
- Adds prestige. Some people may consider something with the © symbol somehow more serious or better.
- Adds value. Some people may be willing to pay more for a copyrighted item than one which is in public domain
- Makes you look more serious. By
publishing a notice you are at least suggesting that you will take legal action against an infractor. It may not stop all, but it may some some.
- May help establish a legal claim. In some circumstances that fact that you declared the "intention" of registering a claim may add weight to your claim if you later get into a conflict with someone else over that claim.
This is hardly a complete discussion of all areas of intellectual property rights. But I hope these views of copyright and trademarks have stimulated you to think about how these might apply to you and your own position concerning internet publishing.
These ideas have been based on my lifetime's experiences and have been valid for me, and there is a good chance they may apply to your country or circumstances. However, to be sure, I suggest you use these thoughts as starting points to
consult with a competent legal advisor .
In
part two of this article I provide a few ways you can put these concepts to practical use.
Would you like to comment on this article? You can add your comments to the end of this blog entry
|
