JRN 440Adv. Online JournalismCopyright, trademark, public domain

Monday, 3/12/12

Class Objectives

Lecture Copyright, trademark, public domain

Homework Project 2 due by 2:05 pm 3/21/12

What is public domain

A range of materials (called “intellectual property”) that are available for anyone to use for any purpose Includes music, literature, art, blogs, websites

Books such as the Bible, but translations may be copyrighted Images

Raster http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/ Vector http://www.openclipart.org/

Very few sound recordings are in PD Varies by country

Something that is PD in one country may not be in another country

Do not need to pay royalties for using PD work (no licenses on)

What is a copyright

Protection of your intellectual property (specifically, works fixed in any tangible medium of expression) Your copyright protects your particular form of

expression that resulted in a book, poem, music, sculpture, movie, letter, email or other printed material, sound, or visual art

Is not indefinite, has a limited lifespan (more about this later)

Copyright symbol ©

Public Domain vs. Copyright

Copyright occurs at time of creation and runs through a limited period of time (normally creator’s life + 70 years)

When copyright expires, the work enters the public domain.

Copyright Laws

What are a copyright laws? Grants the author six exclusive rights the right to reproduce the work the right to create derivative works based upon the

original work the right to distribute copies of the original work

(sale,rental,license, assignment, or otherwise) the right to publicly perform the work the right to display the work the right to prevent distortion, modification, or mutilation

of the work

Source: http://www.copyright.gov/

Copyrights What do the 6 rights actually mean?

Author has the right to stop other parties from Making copies of the work Making changes to the work or creating new works

based on the original work Distributing the work Publishing the work Licensing the work to others Otherwise exploiting the work

U.S. Copyrights

How long do they last? Works before 1923 are in the public domain Works from 1923-1978 =life of creator + 70 years Works from 1978- present copyrighted by individuals =life

of creator + 70 years Works from 1978- present by or for corporations = 95 years

from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Copyrights- limitations Rights are subject to certain limitations One of these limitations is the "fair use"

exception. Permits use of a work, even without the

consent of the author or copyright owner, for certain limited purposes

Purposes include uses for criticism, comment, teaching, news reporting, scholarship or research

Copyrights-considerations

Deep pockets- show me the money How much money is being made off of your

copyrighted property? Non-profit vs for profit International arena has much looser

standards on copyrights than U.S.

Where to file a copyright

Do you need to file a copyright? No. But it helps protect the work from being replicated

without the author’s consent File with the U.S. Copyright Office How much does it cost to register your work?

$35 to file claim, if approved another $45 Why should you pay to register your work?

Ability to sue Statutory Damages

Can be awarded up to $100,000 plus attorney fees and court costs

What is a trademark

Names, logos, colors, words, sounds, and other identifying marks used in commerce

Examples: Coca-cola logo, roar of the MGM lion, Can you hear me now?

Can be maintained indefinitely as long as they are being used in business

Trademark symbols ™ = unregistered ® = registered

Filing a trademark

In the U.S., file a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Basic cost for filing a trademark is $325 Do I have to file or register my trademark?

No, but it helps to prove original ownership

Question

Is everything you create as a designer automatically copyrighted or trademarked to you?

• Yes, but registering them helps protect them from being used by others (gives you a stronger case in court)

• No, depending upon your job, the company/school may actually own your work• You would not have created the work had

you not been hired by them

Question- continued• If you create something at a job, do you have to ask permission to

use it in your portfolio?

If you are an independent contractor/consultant hired to create something that gets copyrighted- company owns copyright

If you develop something by yourself and was not hired for it- you own it

Question

• If I base a design of my own on someone else's copyrighted or trademarked design- is this legal?

• Yes and no• No- depending upon similarity (if you only

change font= no, 80% change = yes)• Did you create your own graphics or steal

others?• Do they have a copyright lawyer• Is the design popular in your trade?

Plagiarism

= the act of using someone else's words or ideas without acknowledging the source.

= the act of copying the work of another and representing it as your own.

If you use someone else's ideas, phrases, conclusions, facts, statistics, or artwork without citing where they came from, in effect you pass them off as your own work and have plagiarized.

Deliberate Plagiarism

When you hand in work you knowingly copied If you printed out something from an Internet

source, put your name on it, and handed it in as your own work

Accidental Plagiarism

Using some of the author's design/words in your work or putting their ideas into your design without acknowledging or referencing the author What about sampling?

If you copy and paste material from the Internet without attending to where it came from or who created it and then use it in your own work

Factual information that is widely known, or common knowledge, does not need to be credited with a citation.

Acceptable under U.S. copyright laws

Asking and obtaining reprint permission from the copyright owner or a legal agent of the copyright owner.

Reading an article about cheese puffs and writing your own article about cheese puffs. Copyright protects creative works (writings, images, paintings, sound and so on), not ideas or concepts. You are safe as long as your work is not simply the same as the other work with the words changed.

The best advice is simple. When in doubt, ask permission.

If you are denied permission or for some reason cannot obtain it, then don't use the material.

Source: http://janim.net/articles/copyright.php

Believed to be legal but are illegal in the U.S.

Using articles and images from other web sites. Is illegal unless explicit permission is given or the item in

question is in the public domain.

Scanning images from magazines and posting them on your web site. This is illegal as you are making a copy (a scan) of a

copyrighted image.

Getting permission from someone who has made a non-legitimate copy of the material. The rule is simple: you must obtain permission from the

copyright owner only.

Source: http://janim.net/articles/copyright.php

Believed to be legal but are illegal in the U.S.

Recording sound from your favorite television show and posting them to your web site.

Modifying an image (let’s say less than 80%) and claiming it as your own. Copyright protects derivations of works as well.

Source: http://janim.net/articles/copyright.php