Respecting Copyrights Online
07:38 PM - Mar 3, 2008
Despite how much I see this, I’m still amazed at the volume of people taking copyrighted content, images, and other works online to use at their own sites, to pass off as their own, to earn income with AdSense or other ad programs, to even sell to their own clients, and whatever else. Like many others, I have also had my copyrighted work taken by others. So, how do you know if something is OK or not to use at your own website? And what can you do about people infringing on your copyrighted materials? Today’s post goes into copyright infringement and includes helpful resources for more information.
Whether or not it’s easy to take whatever you want online, you should always check out someone’s copyright information. Instead of assuming that everything online is free for the taking, stay on the safe side and assume that everything is protected by copyright, and that it also belongs to someone (not you!).
If you’re interested in possibly using something from someone else’s website, always check out the copyright information and find out if it’s OK to use or not. If it’s not, don’t use it - simple as that! Most pages have at least a basic copyright statement at the bottom of the page, such as:
Copyright © 2008 Brainstorms and Raves. All rights reserved.
Even if there isn’t a similar short copyright statement, generally whoever creates the work is considered the owner of that work unless stated otherwise - in the United States and countries that have signed the Berne Convention.
Unless the copyright statement specifically states that you’re allowed to use the materials at your website, then don’t use them. Period.
To find out more information about a particular site’s copyright restrictions, check to see if the site also has a copyright information page in addition to checking the bottom of the page for a copyright notice. If not, don’t assume you can use the materials. Write an email and ask for permission, and only use them if you do get permission in writing. Permission in writing can potentially protect you, too, not just the copyright owner.
On the other hand, like we learned in school, generally it’s OK to quote a few sentences or a paragraph or two without obtaining written permission, as long as you credit your source properly, typically also including a link to the source Web page. But you should always check to see what the copyright owner spells out and abide by those wishes.
Note: I’m not an attorney, and this post is in no way legal advice. Check with your own attorney to get the best information. At the end of this post I’ve also included helpful online resources about copyright.
As an example of copyright infringement and what can be done about it, I’ll use one of my own recent experiences.
Last month (February, 2008) someone took an article I wrote for websitetips.com on the best performing banner ad sizes and locations, including all the content, images, and HTML markup, and posted it at his business blog. In the process, he removed all my copyright information but left the entire article intact otherwise, and he also hotlinked to the images on my server. In addition, he added AdSense ads, and his business blog directly linked to his business site - in other words, he was potentially drawing income directly or indirectly from my copyrighted materials that he was using without permission and that he was also passing off as his own.
How I handle copyright infringement in part depends on what the person is using and the circumstances around it. For the example above:
I spent over $40 for the certified, registered mail to all the parties, and it took several hours of my time to research the search engine listings, document everything, and write the letters, but he finally removed my copyrighted materials from his website. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
By the way, over the years I’ve heard so many silly excuses, including this recent experience in which he told me he accidentally deleted my blog post comments since he gets so much spam, and he didn’t know how copyrights work online. He also managed to delete my copyright information within the text content and leave all the other content and markup intact. Curious coincidence, eh?!
I suspect most or all the readers here already know not to infringe on copyrighted materials, especially to try to pass them off as your own. But not everyone seems to be aware that we can do something about people taking our hard work. So I hope sharing this story and some information is helpful. It takes a little time to deal with it, but in the past 12 years that I’ve been protecting my work online, it’s been well worth doing every single time to date.
Note: I have no current plans to divulge who the copyright infringer was in my example above, as that’s not the point of this article. I also won’t intentionally send any traffic to his site, either. At the same time, though, he still has other people’s copyrighted materials at his blog and passing them off as his own work, even though he removed mine. I’m in the midst of emailing as many of those other authors to let them know about this, however.