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Avoiding Copyright Infringement Online

July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
© is the copyright symbol in a copyright notice

Image via Wikipedia

With billions of web pages available on the Internet, it may be difficult to know for sure when a copyright violation is taking place. Some photos or text may be published on websites that seem to be public domain and available for anyone. However, this is not true. It is important to take caution when using anything found on another person’s website, as it could constitute copyright infringement.

There are laws in place to protect copyrighted items from being stolen. Music, photos, videos, and just about any form of media falls under the spectrum of these laws, and anyone who even possesses stolen items could be punished. Even websites that do not explicitly state that the items are copyrighted, or items that are not registered, can still be protected under the restrictions. Subjects, characters, and storylines in books and online stories are often copyrighted and cannot be used without the express consent of the original author.

Students who are performing research online must be cautious when using information found within an assignment. Even if only using the ideas presented in an article or on a personal blog, the student must always cite a source that offered any insight into the subject matter. If quoting directly, quotation marks must be used. Many colleges and universities are using online databases to check for plagiarism, and violating this can sometimes be grounds for expulsion from the school.

Stealing from another is wrong, and items posted on websites are no exception. Users must be careful not to accidentally infringe any laws in order to protect the ideas and artistic expressions of others.

Filed Under: Copyrighting, Creative Commons Tagged With: , ,

Finding Public Domain Music and Compositions

June 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
© is the copyright symbol in a copyright notice 

Image via Wikipedia

You may be looking for some music to accompany an online project or video that you want to disseminate publicly. You may be wanting to sell or distribute this project for profit; however, you are working on a budget. You are faced with finding just the right music to make your video project shine, but you don’t have the funds to purchase the right to many commercial songs.

However, there is an option. Whether you need some obscure, out there Delta blues song or an early Baroque piece it may be found in the public domain. You can also find out if a particular tune you want to record for profit is part of the public domain. With only a few exceptions, music is no longer has copyright protection 70 years after the death of the original composer. This mean after the copyright has expired, any one can profit from the piece.

It’s easy to find music and composition in the public domain.

Visit the Pubic Domain Information Project (pdinfo.com) or archive.org. Both of these sites have links to music and compositions that are in the public domain.

Determine the original publication date of composition you want to use. Certain arrangements of that particular song may still be copyright protected. Be certain that the arrangement you want to use is not protected.

Other public domain search options include the Library of Congress. In addition, you can submit a formal copyright search at www.copyright.gov.

Filed Under: File Sharing Tagged With: , ,

Power and Performance

April 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The rules of the “cyber-world” are just like the rules of engagement; you have to play it safe and make sure you are being cautious and smart in all you do. The Internet is one of those places that takes that into effect. You have know right from wrong all the time and with everything thing you do.

For example, it’s important to understand not just the security of an exchange server, but its limits as well. Be aware of the laws of certain websites and be sure that you read over the entire terms and condition sections. You can make it so much easier just by reading these laws because they will explain everything and offer guidance of what activity is and is not allowed on that particular website. Just remember that all websites usually have these posted and it is worth reading and digesting.

When creating things on the web you really have to be aware you are acting properly. Copyrights are one of those things. You need to be sure that when you are creating or doing something on the Internet, that it is nothing that would push the boundaries of copyright laws. These laws are vital to a very stable Internet system.

Keeping these things in mind as you surf the Internet or use your exchange server will make it much easier to go in sync with the web. Even though there are quite a few laws that you need to follow, the Internet is pretty much an open playing field. To help protect yourself, you should consider privacy scans.

Filed Under: Creative Commons Tagged With: , ,

Is this article yours?

March 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With the birth of the Internet, we find ourselves with a wealth of information at our fingertips. We can look up anything from how long to cook your Thanksgiving Day turkey to who invented the airplane. However, this access to information also can lead to plagiarism or copyright infringement. More and more students, from elementary school to college, are searching the internet for content to use for their homework assignments. This is defiantly are great way to gather information, however, how many or just copying and pasting this information right into their papers?

Much of the content that is found on the internet is copyrighted material. This means that the material belongs to the person or persons that wrote the material. You are not allowed to copy, reproduce, or publish this content as your own. The earliest form of copyrighting dates back to 15th century Europe to regulate and control printing by churches and government.

Once the distribution of music and movies became more common place, copyright laws extended into these areas as well. International copyright law was now needed to protect the owners of this material worldwide. As computers become common place in the home, peer-to-peer networks became popular as a way to illegally distribute movies, music, and software to users worldwide. The two most notable of these networks is Napster and Limewire. Millions of users access copyrighted content for personal use and some will even copy this material to CD’s and DVD’s for sale. There are now multiple organizations worldwide, such as the RIAA or Recording Industry Association of America, that work for a particular industry to stop copyright infringement. The impact of copyright infringement is huge. The recording industry itself loses over $7 billion dollars a year. Think about it the next time you want to not pay for that song.

 


Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: , ,

Basics Of Copyright

February 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Copyright literally imply the right to copy. Copyright jurisprudence protects intellectual property. It checks that no one other than the originator himself can replicate a specific work he has produced. The original work of an author is safeguarded by this law. These works may admit dramatic world, music, computer software, movies and literary makes like novels, short stories, essays etc. But copyright law does not protect original thoughts and facts. But the mode in which these matters are showed can be protected through the copyright law.

Intellectual property can be retained in 3 ways.
•    Inventions and works to improve those inventions are protected through patents
•    The second one i.e. trademarks can safeguard projects relevant to specific products of companies.
•    Copyright protects literary works, artistic and music
Copyright is related with safeguarding literary, scientific or artistic works of the human mind. They admit records, papers, booklets and other pieces of writing, music, fine arts works like paintings and carvings, speeches and works like, Dramas, Musical composition, Architecture, drawings, engravings, Translations and applied science based works like computer programs and databases.

Let us look at some examples to get to this idea more clearly.
All Video games are covered with copyright laws.
Movies like The Pianist – they are literary and movie works and are copyrighted as well.
Michael Jackson music – his dongs are copyright protected
From the very instance you create the work the original work is under copyright protection and make it tangible so that audience can log into their systems or use any device to access them directly. As soon as you write a book or frame a song. The protection is suitable to any fresh work for a particular frame of time and inside that time frame no one other than the originator of the work can earn profit from the work until the originator himself gives accordance.

Filed Under: Copyrighting Tagged With: