Copyright Laws Around The World

In an effort to help others better understand copyright laws worldwide I decided to provide a listing of as many links as possible to the copyright offices of nations around the world. The list (at the bottom of the page) is incomplete but I will add to it from time to time as I find more links. If you know of links I’ve yet to list feel free to send them to idleblogs (AT) yahoo.com with the words “Copyright Laws” in the subject line of your e-mail. I’ve also included some links to good guides concerning copyrights.

Basically copyright works like this: No matter if it’s poetry, news, articles, paintings, photography, software, website designs, pictures, novels, blueprints, or a myriad of other things that require human thought to create then it’s probably, most likely, almost definitely copyrighted. Buying a copy of a copyrighted item does not give you the right to copy and sell, or for that matter, give away copies of that item. Fact is: with only a few exceptions: If you didn’t create it then you don’t have the right to copy it.

A notice of copyright is NOT necessary for an author to claim copyright. If you wrote it then you own the copyright, if I wrote it then I own the copyright. That will always be true unless we choose to avail ourselves of our copyrights.

Titles are not usually copyrighted. You can use the title “Copyright Laws Around The World” and there’s nothing I can do about it. But, titles can be trademarked. For example: I hold the trademarks to BloggingPoet.com and Billy The Blogging Poet. That’s not saying you can’t use my trademarks when referring to me or my website-- you can-- but you cannot lay claim to trademarks that aren’t your own. Trademark law is a different subject altogether but it’s pretty easy to grasp. Let’s say you wanted to start a t-shirt shop selling BloggingPoet.com or Billy The Blogging Poet t-shirts. Don’t even think about it I’ll see your butt in jail, but if you start a t-shirt shop selling "YourNameHere" t-shirts then I can’t do anything about it. Just make sure no one else holds the trademark to “YourNameHere” t-shirts and you’ll be okay.

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Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s free to use. As a matter of fact: Almost everything that is online is copyrighted by someone even if a hundred thousand people tell you otherwise.

What are some of the exceptions? If the original author/creator has been dead for over 70 years (USA only) then the copyright might have expired but if some big name company is still selling it (Publishing houses for example) then they’ve probably arranged to renew the copyright through some arrangement with the author’s family. In Australia and Canada the original copyright is 50 after the death of the author while other countries are usually somewhere in between.

If the works in question are labeled as having a Creative Commons License then they MIGHT be exempt from copyright but don’t count on it unless you’re sure the person displaying the work is the actual creator of the work. And remember: Not all Creative Commons Licenses are the same. Always check the fine print.

Warning: CREATIVE COMMONS, while a great idea, is NOT law and has yet to be tested in a court of law. That means someone displaying the Creative Commons Badge on their website could remove that badge tomorrow and legally force you to stop using their content. Creative Commons is somewhat like the older copyleft but isn't quite the same thing.

Just because YOU don’t know who owns the copyright doesn’t mean it’s okay to use it, but if you are making a copy for your use only then you’re probably okay as long as you don’t allow others to copy your copy or distribute the works in any away. Giving copyrighted works away for free is against the law.

In the United States of America, Copyright Infringement is a felony for which you can be sent to prison. And in some countries the penalties are even worse.

A couple of ways you can use the works of others are parody and "fair use." Examples of parody include the song, “Eat It” by Weird Al Yankovic-- a parody of the Michael Jackson song, “Beat It” but Weird Al was careful to ask Michael Jackson’s permission before he released the recording. While I have no way of knowing it to be fact: I suspect Weird Al paid Michael Jackson a percentage of what “Eat It” earned in record sales and radio airplay royalties.

“Fair Use” (“Fair Dealing” in Canada) is tricky but fair use is a legitimate way to use the works of others. If you copy a single sentence from this web page or perhaps even an entire paragraph and display it in the correct manor without changing it then you’re probably within the spirit of the law.

Here’s a link to an example of “Fair Use” on my website.

To comply with “Fair Use” one needs do the following:
* Excerpt the smallest amount of content possible to make your point. Almost never does “Fair Use” allow the use of an entire copyrighted item unless you first get written permission from the original author or copyright holder.
*Put the excerpt in quotes (“”) and if you want to go the extra mile, change the font or put it in Italics so your readers can plainly see there’s something different about it.
* Tell others where the article first came from (the original copyright owner.) It’s called attribution and there’s a link below that explains it. If you got it off the Internet and you plan to place it on your website then place a hyperlink to the original source of the material as close to the material as you can. Simply stating it was written by Billy The Blogging Poet without hyperlinks simply won’t do. If you’re using it on paper then print BloggingPoet.com (or the domain where you found it) on the paper.Bloggers usually attribute not only the original copyright owner but where they found it if the two are not the same.
* Don’t change it unless of course you’re doing a parody. There’s a link explaining parody below.
* Pay for it. That is: if you plan to use all or most of someone else’s works as a part of your work then you’re always safe if you pay it’s owner or at least get written permission.
* Earn far less money from your use of the work that the original author earned or be prepared to pay royalties to the original author because you have devalued his or her original works.
* Be prepared to apologize and if using the content online, be prepared to remove it should you be threatened with a DMCA “Cease and Desist” letter.

Here’s the deal, if you created it you’ve nothing to worry about, but if you’re stealing it (Intellectual Property is property, you know) be prepared to get burned.

Below are lots of links you’ll find helpful. I’ll add more as I find them.

Attribution

Australia

Books About Copyrights

Canada

Copyright Your Website by Kevin Savetz-- Step by step instructions for registering a copyright for your entire website.

Creative Commons

DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)

Google Alerts-- a tool to search for copyright infringement

Limitations on exclusive rights: Cornell Law School

Parody

Poets Against Plagiarism A blog and blacklisting of persons caught in the act of stealing other's works of poetry.

PlagiarismToday.com Great advice on how to deal with plagiarism and copyright infringement

United States

University of Washington Copyright Connection

Ten Myths About Copyrights by Brad Templeton

WhatIsCopyright.org

What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content By Lorelle VanFossen. A great series of articles.

Wikipedia article on copyrights

No, you cannot copy this entire page and post it to your website but you can link to it. You can use parts of it as long as you remain within the guidelines of “Fair Use” just be sure to link back to this page so others can read it for themselves. If you want to pay me for the use of this page in its entirety (I’ll let it go dirt cheap) then send an e-mail to idleblogs (AT) yahoo.com If you need to use it for school then feel free to do so as long as you let your teacher know you found it at BloggingPoet.com.