Copyrighting Myths: What is True and What is False

Lets see if we can take care of the myths so you will know what is the truth. First, what is the exact meaning of "copyright?" Copyright - from my good old handy Webster's New World Dictionary - the exclusive right to the publication, production, or sale of the rights to a commercial print or label. Granted by law for a specified period of time to an author, composer, artist, distributor, to protect. Pretty self explanatory, right!

Now lets tackle some of those myths.

If you don't see the copyright symbol or the word copyright, it's not copyrighted. Well this use to be the case. Up until April1, 1989 this was the law but times have changed and the Internet is one of the reasons the law has changed. So half of this myth is true, prior to April 1, 1989 articles had to have the symbol or state that it was under copyright.

Since April 1, 1989, everything that is created privately and is the original work of the creator is copyrighted whether it has a notice or not. So you have to assume that other people's work is copyrighted and cannot be copied unless stated otherwise. The safest bet is to just don't chance it unless you know for sure.

It is true that seeing that symbol or word "copyright" should put a scare into that individual that is thinking to steal your work but it's not necessary. This copyright law also pertains to pictures, you can't take pictures from books and magazines and post to the Internet.

The proper form for a copyright notice is "Copyright (the date) by (author or owners name)" you can also use the words "All Rights Reserved."

I'm not breaking the law if I don't charge for it; this myth is definitely not true. Any information that is under copyright does have a value and the value can decrees if you charge or not. If you would happen to be in court this would affect the damages that could be awarded. Now if the information doesn't have any value it is unlikely to have any legal involvement.

If it is posted on the Internet it's public information. This is something that every person thinks but it's not true, not any more. The owner of the information has to explicitly state "I grant this to the public domain," using those exact word or close to that. This has to be put as a note included at the bottom of the page or right after the information.

One thing to remember, your computer can't make copies by it's self. It doesn't have a mind, only the person setting in front of the computer is telling it what to do with their fingers.

What is fair use; doesn't that mean I can do what I like? The answer to this is "no." Fair use was created as an exemption to the copyright law so newspaper reporting, research, education and commentary works can be used without the permission of the author or owner. This is important so the copyright law doesn't block your right as an individual to express your freedom of your own work. Fair use is basically a short excerpt of the original article. It cannot harm the value of the work Facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted but you can write the facts in your own words.

They can't get me! Oh yes they can. It's the judge or the jury that believes or accepts the evidence as to which side broke the copyright law; you basically are sued and not convicted with a crime.

So it's not a crime! It can be if the value of the information is over $2500. This is considered a felony.

I guess I can't reproduce anything. Copyright isn't set in stone by providing the author with the credit given for the work, this distributes the work so more people see it and the author receives more recognition.

Just remember that copyright has 2 main purposes; protecting the authors right and the benefit of the value of the work and protect the authors rights on how the work is used. It is illegal to reproduce someone else's work without there permission; the work has a value and the author can sue the individual that stole the work for the loss of value, the court cost and anymore that the judge or jury rules necessary.

Now don't get any ideas, e-mail can't be copyrighted if it is sent to a group of people. If it is a private matter, it needs to be kept private. If some reason you would happen to see your email reproduced the courts don't take much notice in this.