5 Copyright Facts Every Blogger Should Know
If you have a blog, whether you realize it or not, copyright is a subject that directly impacts your life.
Not only are you constantly creating new copyrighted works while making your blog but, most likely, you are integrating other’s works into your site including your blogging application (IE: WordPress), your theme, images with your posts, quotes, etc.
However, there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on matters of copyright. Some of it is because the law is genuinely confusing, some of it is caused by misinformation that is being spread around the Web and much of it is the simple fact that most bloggers aren’t interested in these issues.
Unfortunately, those who are ignorant about the law often step into traps while wading through it and these pitfalls can both limit your rights to control your own work and cause you to be threatened or sued by others.
As a blogger, it is best to have at least some knowledge of copyright so you can protect yourself. With that in mind, here are five copyright facts every blogger should know.
1. If It’s Saved, It’s Copyrighted
There is no requirement to place a notice on your work for it to be considered copyrighted nor do you have to register your work with any third party. A creative work is considered copyrighted the moment it is “fixed in any tangible medium of expression“. Once you save your work to your hard drive (or server), doodle a sketch onto a napkin or put that painting on canvas, it is copyrighted.
Though you can’t copyright ideas, just their expression, and you do need to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office if you are U.S. citizen and wish to be able to sue for copyright infringement and collect all potential damages. However, that has nothing to do with your rights in the work and your ability to demand removal of infringing copies.
On the counter side, unless you have some significant reason to believe otherwise, assume all works you encounter on the Web are copyrighted and threat them as such.
2. There is No Golden Rule for Fair Use
Though others like to talk about rules such as X number of words in a blog post or X number of seconds in a song, there is no magic “bright line” on matters of fair use.
In short, fair use is a defense against a copyright infringement lawsuit and it is determined on a case-by-case basis, not by any hard rules. Judges and juries weigh four factors when looking at fair use and those factors get weighed differently almost every time.
There are some uses that are clearly fair and others that are clearly not. In between there is a wide swatch of gray area that could, quite literally, go either way.
3. Attribution is No Substitute for Permission
Though attribution is a good thing to give, it doesn’t give a green light to use a work as you see fit.
Attributing a work simply prevents its use from being a plagiarism. However, plagiarism and copyright infringement are two separate ideas. Not all cases of plagiarism are infringements and not all infringements are plagiarism.
If you want to use someone’s work on your site, get permission to do so. You can do this either by asking the person directly or looking for works licensed under Creative Commons licenses and then completing the terms of the license.
Failure to get permission to use a work can result in a cease and desist letter, takedown notice being filed or, in extreme cases, a lawsuit. On the flip side, don’t assume just because others attribute your work that it isn’t infringing. If you don’t want your work used in that capacity, you have the right to stop it.
4. You Can’t Copyright Names or Ideas
Though you can copyright a wide variety of content including literary works, photographs, paintings, movies, sound recordings and even hull designs, you can not copyright a name or an idea.
Names fall under the realm of trademark law, which deals with names and marks used in business. Trademark is much more limited in scope of protection than copyright for many reasons but the crux of it is that it is designed to prevent confusion in the marketplace. Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets, for example, can have the same name because they are in two different markets.
Ideas fall under patent law. Patents must be applied for and approved through a lengthy and expensive process and not all ideas are patentable.
For more information on trademarks and patents, visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
5. Changing a Few Words Does Not Create a New Work
Finally, just because the copying isn’t verbatim does not mean that it isn’t an infringement. Copyright is not just a right to copy a work, but rather a set of exclusive rights including the right to make derivative works. A derivative work is a new work based upon the original and can include not only works with minor changes, such as moving a few words around, but also more substantial changes such as sequels and spin offs.
Though determining whether a work is a derivative work or not is a gray area problem similar to fair use, the test is whether an “ordinary observer” would notice that the new work is based on the original. Changing a few words or names around certainly fails that test.
Always remember that, just because a work is not identical to the original does not mean it is not an infringement.
Bottom Line
This is, of course, just a basic overview of some of the most important pieces of information bloggers need to know when it comes to copyright. I tried to focus on areas where there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation but, clearly, there is a lot more ground to cover.
The bottom line though is that, if you are a blogger, you owe it to yourself to have an understanding of how copyright works both so you can enforce your rights and you can avoid troubles of your own down the road.
You don’t have to be an expert on copyright, but it helps to at least understand the basics and how it can affect you.
Written by Jonathan Bailey from Plagiarism TodayPosted on February 18th, 2010 and filed under Blogging
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19 Responses to “5 Copyright Facts Every Blogger Should Know”
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Six Figure Blogging
Some great points!
An added point (from the standpoint of bloggers who create plugins; specifically derivative works from someone else’s code), “open source” does not equal “public domain.” An open source project can (and often is) copyrighted and the creator can claim copyright. As such, a derivative work needs to be properly attributed, and it may be possible that permission needs to be obtained from the original copyright holder. You can’t just change a couple lines and claim copyright of the entire thing as a new work.
Enjoyed reading the post.
Copyright is something that everyone who blogs needs to keep an eye on. I have done a little reasearch on copyright in the past but after reading this you realise there is always something new to learn
.
As you say though, you don’t need to be an expert just have enough knowledge to cover yourself.
Bloggers should also remember that “Rule #1: If it’s saved it’s copyrighted” also applies to image found on the internet. -However some artist will happily allow you to put a copy of their work on your blog if you ask permission.
That’s a good rule to follow, but not 100% true as it does not account for public domain. There are a lot of public domain works on the Internet, both text and images, and public domain is not restricted by copyright. Just because an item is saved on the Internet does not in and of itself mean that it is copyrighted. It also becomes complicated by the fact that someone can take a public domain work, modify it in some way, and claim copyright of the derivative work. While you can assume that an item is copyrighted, you can’t assume that an item is in the public domain (one will get you into trouble, the other won’t).
I would say that bloggers should always err on the side of caution and assume an item is copyrighted. When in doubt, ask permission.
Great post. Can you weigh in on the use of Copyright Clearinghouse? When I was working for a health care association, we would distribute newspaper clips to our state affiliates and to protect ourselves against copyright infringement, we purchased what amounted to blanket coverage from CCR. Do you recommend this still? What experience have you had with this?
Chris
Hmmm.. I can oftentimes say that I dont pay too much attention with copyrights for whatever reason. Hopefully I would start too soon.
It is interesting that almost every blog or news story found on the web today, has an e-mail button to promote additional distribution. What are the ramifications of that?
If you forward a blog post with expressed written permission is that a volation of copywrite law?
matt, if you hit a “forward button on a news site you are not forwarding the story, you are giving the publisher of the item an address for them to ship the story to if they so choose. no doubt the story will include an ad and a pitch to subscribe or become a regular reader, and they get higher ratings for ad revenue.
This was a discussion I was having last night with a few friends that thought it was ok to look through Google images and use them without permission or attribution on their posts. I think it is ethically wrong to steal other people’s work and claim it as your own in any way shape or form. Thanks for helping educate on this issue.
Good stuff. No, great stuff. Here’s a related question: when you guest post on someone else’s site, who owns the copyright to that article? Are we giving way the copyright, or allowing “rights” for the host to use it, meaning we are then free to use it (again) for our own purposes? I do a lot of guest posting and this would be good to know. For the most part — with one exception — the hosts are more than willing to allow me to use my work again… sounds odd when you put it that way, doesn’t it. Hope you can clarify. Thanks.
thanks,, i dont know if you dont share here, its very helpful..
Yes, smaller countries even don’t have an idea what copyright is … so it’s bigger problem for them to learn and find out what they can and what they cannot.
Can anybody address my question above? Was hoping to hear from the author — still do — but would love to hear from anyone who is clear on the use of guest posts by an original author after the fac. Thanks — Larry
To answer Larry’s question very quickly, the answer actually lies in the terms of service of the site. This is why you need to read those TOSes carefully.
Most hosts grant themselves a non-exclusive license to use your content within the context it was submitted. That means you can post your articles and videos elsewhere as they have no exclusivity.
If there isn’t a TOS, such as with this site’s comment box, there is an implied license for the host to use it as a comment. This means your actions, by hitting the “Submit” button, act in such a way that you indicated your permission to engage in certain behaviors with the work, such as display it, reformat it to fit on the page, etc.
To answer your question though, read the TOS closely though I am yet to find a host that claims exclusive rights on your work so it shouldn’t be an issue. No matter what though, your host does not “own” your content, instead, they have a set of rights to it that you grant them.
Hope that helps.
Depending on the site for which you are providing a guest post, you may have more than just a TOS. You may have an agreement or contract, and you should be familiar with the terms of your contract. As someone who does a fair amount for freelance writing, when I am paid for the work, the site owner is claiming exclusive rights to the content I have written. That is what they are paying for. However, these terms should be spelled out specifically in any agreement you may enter in to with the site owner.