Copyright FAQs - because theft is stupid!

[Kilted]

You know what infuriates me? Seeing people put “credit goes to who made it” in their sig next to stolen art thinking that makes it all okay.

Everyone’s talking about SOPA (and I hate it too)... but take this opportunity, people! Learn a little about the problems that allowed SOPA to get even this far instead of just complaining!



What do YOU know about copyright? Public domain? Creative Commons? Plagiarism? Fair Use?

Want to learn more, fast? Start with these FAQs: http://www.teachingcopyright.org/handout/copyright-faq and http://www.teachingcopyright.org/handout/fair-use-faq

Want to use copyrighted content online responsibly? Read this: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-online-video

What about fanart and fanfic? Try this: https://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/faq.cgi

Some of this is very confusing and even doing everything right won't necessarily keep you safe. About the only thing everyone can agree on is that US Copyright law is out of date. No one can do everything right so all I ask is that you know enough to make smart decisions and try to be responsible and creative with your work.

[Kilted]

So if you've read the links in the first post, you know you actually do have rights to do some pretty creative things with copyrighted content and with all sorts of Public Domain and Creative Commons content.

Want to find work in the Public Domain or licensed under Creative Commons to use yourself?
- Public Domain: you can use as needed, copy and redistribute or rework and transform
- Creative Commons: you can use provided you follow the rules the artist has given (sometimes these are as simple as linking back in order to give credit or merely having to transform the work into something creatively your own)

Books:http://www.gutenberg.org/
use Google Books and check the box for free Google ebooks

Art: http://www.digitalimagemagazine.com/blog/featured/25-free-stock-photo-sites/
https://secure.flickr.com/creativecommons/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Music: https://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos
http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/creative_commons


What if you find a picture online that you really like but it doesn't say who drew it?
One thing you can do is to try a reverse image search on a site like TinEye or Google Reverse Image search. That may help you find the owner and any rules they have about using or nto using it. If no copyright owner can be established, it's called an orphan work and can't be used.


Does anyone have any other recommendations for sites that offer legitimate public domain and creative commons art/music/books/etc? What about sites that rate freeware and shareware computer programs?

[Kilted]

What sort of intellectual property do you own? Do you draw? Write? Code? Then you own intellectual property too. You don't have to have filed a copyright to have those rights to your own work.

[Kilted]

And if anyone is interested in the legalese version from the US Copyright Office... http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf. Don't bother with their resources for teaching copyright unless you want to be talked to like a five year old and learn nothing in the process. rolleyes

[Doppoetry]

I already signed the petition to stop it, but some senators need to vote on it for it to go away forever. It's just a shame that they want to censor useful sites like google, but I am sure everything will turn out just fine, if we all hope so and take measures.

I am a blogger and an artist, I don't want blog sites and art sites to be censored because of those people.

[Kilted]

ii G a k u p o

I already signed the petition to stop it, but some senators need to vote on it for it to go away forever. It's just a shame that they want to censor useful sites like google, but I am sure everything will turn out just fine, if we all hope so and take measures.

I am a blogger and an artist, I don't want blog sites and art sites to be censored because of those people.

I agree that censorship isn't the answer but there is such a huge problem with copyright infringement that its obvious something will have to be done. I just hope that what comes next won't be censorship and won't be the kind of biased half-truths that groups like RIAA use to try to 'teach' copyright.

[Kilted]

bump

[freetobeyouandmichime]

The biggest problem with the SOPA and the PIPA acts that you only have to say you have the copyright instead of having to prove you own the copyright. That's my biggest problem with the whole issue. Since when does just saying something made it 100% true?

[Kilted]

Michi Me Yo

The biggest problem with the SOPA and the PIPA acts that you only have to say you have the copyright instead of having to prove you own the copyright. That's my biggest problem with the whole issue. Since when does just saying something made it 100% true?

I agree completely. Mostly, it's the potential for abuse that makes these bills really scary. There's groups like Electronic Frontier Foundation that cover the ongoing history of bullying and overstepping of copyright law. It's not just pirates that are messing up on issues of copyright - this is a problem that goes both ways.

[Kittens Addicted]

Copyright's important, yes, but laws seem to be trying to make it stricter and stricter all the time. It's crazy how long people claim possession to things they give to the public. When copyright first started (I could be off on this), you held possession to whatever the piece was for, what, fifty years before it's released to the public? And now, it's like, a lifetime and fifty years or something like that. And companies have all kinds of ways of getting around copyright laws to hold their items even longer. You know how long Mickey Mouse has been around? And you can still get busted for the simplest things. In fact, the original happy birthday song that everyone sings at birthday parties has a copyright on it. That's why you never see it on TV because people can get sued for using a song that has been around for forever. It's just ridiculous.

[freetobeyouandmichime]

Kilted

Michi Me Yo

The biggest problem with the SOPA and the PIPA acts that you only have to say you have the copyright instead of having to prove you own the copyright. That's my biggest problem with the whole issue. Since when does just saying something made it 100% true?

I agree completely. Mostly, it's the potential for abuse that makes these bills really scary. There's groups like Electronic Frontier Foundation that cover the ongoing history of bullying and overstepping of copyright law. It's not just pirates that are messing up on issues of copyright - this is a problem that goes both ways.

Well when you think about it, if the bills do pass and all it takes is someone saying 'hey that's my copyright' then all users would have to do is report every single business/person that supported the bills. Think about it. If SOPA passes I could say 'I own the copyright' and under the law, that site has be taken down.

[Kilted]

In the US, it started out as 14 years and now its life of the author plus 75 years. Copyright, when its working, is supposed to encourage innovation. It does certainly get abused but the leeway people have to use copyrighted works is also misunderstood - it's not a 100% thing. However, because some corporations have become so powerful and the penalties for copyright violation are often vastly disproportionate, it makes it very difficult for the wrongly accused to stand up and defend their rights. Like I mentioned above, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the big non-profits that tries to fight abuse of copyrights. If you really care about the issue, you might want to check out their website and blog.

[freetobeyouandmichime]

I wrote my congressman to tell them to vote NO on the bills.

I don't like it when censorship is disguised as something else which is another problem I have the bills.

[Kilted]

Michi Me Yo

I wrote my congressman to tell them to vote NO on the bills.

I don't like it when censorship is disguised as something else which is another problem I have the bills.

I don't like the censorship or the potential for abuse and I also don't appreciate the direction the US government is going with trying to police the whole world. Those are much bigger issues than just SOPA though.

[JEAT XV]

I honestly don't remember moving to F***ING COMMUNIST RUSSIA. These dipsh*ts are not only taking their little "censorship" too far, but they are further creating a bigger problem. Besides, this retarded a** law is probably going to take a lot of money. The people who created the SOPA act are all fu**tards. I can tell you right now that this law isn't passing through S**T. Not with all these people against it.