"14
Copyright Tips For Bloggers."
By Kimberlee Weatherall
1) Never copy the whole of anyone else's
material: whether it is a picture, an article or a layout.
The more you copy, the less likely a court is to view your use
as 'fair', even if you are doing it for criticism or review;
2) Don't just copy someone else's stuff,
even if it is funny, cool or interesting, without having some
new point or comment or criticism of your own. Copying
because you like something is not fair use.
Copying because you want to comment or engage
with something is more likely to be fair.
3) Try to be proportionate. Don't copy
the whole of someone else's stuff if a shorter extract will do.
Do the shorter extract and then link! The more you take, the more
likely it is to be an infringement.
4) Acknowledge your sources if you do
copy, and link to them. Some countries have things called
'moral rights' - rights to be attributed as an author of a work.
Also, in some countries, if you are relying on a 'fair use' type
defense, you will need to acknowledge the source, even if your
purpose is criticism/review or reporting news. It is also more
likely your act will be considered 'fair' if you identify your
source.
5) A great resource on copyright in this
environment generally is the material collected by Chilling Effects,
a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard,
Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of
Maine, and George Washington School of Law clinics. People who
are both bloggers AND copyright owners should check out the general
descriptions there. The FAQs that are really useful in terms of
US law may be found at http://www.chillingeffects.org/
Eugene just has one tip for potential copyright
violators: 6) Don't do it!
For copyright holders who find their
work violated by a blogger, Kimberlee's tips are as follows:
7) The main point here would be: Remember
that it is always better to reach agreement. A polite
request to remove material will often work wonders. Do this first.
Remember that bloggers always have a right of textual reply, if
they think they have been wronged.
8) If you encounter problems, some countries
have notice and take down provisions: provisions that allow copyright
owners to write to the host/ISP and have infringing material removed.
Writing to the ISP/host is often a 2nd easy step towards
having stuff removed.
9) Try to reach an assessment of whether use
might be fair. Avoid the knee jerk reaction.
Euegene's tips on this issue are:
10) Ask yourself whether it's worth bothering
about.
11) If it is, send an e-mail to the blogger
pointing out that his actions are an infringement. Ask
him/her to stop.
12) If he/she doesn't stop, then ask
yourself whether it's worth the huge money and headache that would
be involved in suing. The answer would almost always
be "no."
13) If the answer is "yes,"
then hire a copyright lawyer (doesn't much matter whether
he's skilled in cyberspace law; experience with copyright law
in whatever medium is more important here).
And, a final copyright tip for bloggers from
Kimberlee:
14) Don't be overly scared by copyright.
Most people do not experience copyright infringement allegations
or problems, unless they are putting lots and lots of movies or
MP3s on their website. Basic common sense will mostly be sufficient
to avoid problems: Don't copy too much and only copy where it
is 'fair' - where you're not competing with the owner's market.
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