Copywrite (Forums, Internet etc.)

Published by: jane 2009-01-07

If I were on a jury and you were on trial, I wouldn't convict you! If it is posted on a public forum, it is free use, actually it becomes property of that forum! Once you post something on the net, you are placing it there for everyone to see...and to some extent use. The exception to this would be if you posted it on your personal site AND you had a notice posted on that site.

That's not the law, just the way I see it! :p

the chances of you getting sued might be slim, but it's still unethical and a violation of intellectual property rights. The true owners of that material would be well within their rights to tell you to cease using their material on your site.

the ethical thing to do would be to ask permission for all ed material (treat ALL material online as ed unless stated otherwise) and to include a notation saying where you got the material from. It could be as simple as having a list of references page. At the very least say where you got the material from. I know a lot of writers (and even moreso, photographers) who would be very upset (to put it lightly) to find people using their material without permission. Just 'cause many people are unethical doesn't mean you should follow suit.

As an aside, please be aware, that the word is (since you've continued to use the wrong spelling even though subsequent posters have used the correct form). It refers to the RIGHTS of people to COPY something.

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I thought you might want to know since you're apparently teaching English for a living.

Untrue, now you stole 2 images, so if you got it from 2 different sources, both people can sue you.

Has there ever been a case of someone not earning big money and being sued for taking images from the net?

well it's the conjunction of two words; the verb would be "to write copy"... but that's not really relevant to the focus of this thread. Sorry for the quick thread-jack!

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Thanks to everyone for your comments.
I've been reading up and would like to share my findings.

I quoted nicegaijin because what he said is similar to what I'm thinking now.
(I didn't ask his permission so I've proabably infringed copywrite law).

1) Almost all things we write and all images have legal copywrite protection.

2) You can't get arrested for copywrite violations. Someone has to file a lawsuit.

3) Issues like damaging the value of the work seem to be necessary for any lawsuit to arise. If there are no damages (monetary etc.) the court will consider the motive's of the accuser unfavourably.

4) This means we are legally safe to copy many things on the internet if we don't cause damage to the works value or author.
On the other hand, many people (especially artists) stand up for their rights.
I'm in support of artists etc. and their views but unfortunately all they can really do is get the copy or copies erased.

Conclusion.
I will proceed to contact authors by email to gain permission to copy.
If I get no response, I will display the text (no images) on my site, but immidiately remove it if asked.

WARNING-If you copy or quote all or part of this post you are probably breaching copywrite law.

eg. If you combine images, it becomes a new image and free from copywrite.

?

Untrue, now you stole 2 images, so if you got it from 2 different sources, both people can sue you.

Yes, but copywrite isn't.

Copywriting is a noun to describe the work or the occupation, copywriter is the person but I don't think there is a verb.

It's got the makings of a future back-formation.

they would publish an "Worldwide Internet Laws" book for dummies. Something down to earth so a non-lawyer could understand it. I've pondered many questions like yours. It would be nice to know existing laws by country and future laws being contemplated down the road. I get the feeling most people just wing it till the FBI knocks down their door or they get a letter from a lawer saying they are being sued.
Anyone out there able to recomend a good bood on this subject to read?

Frank

:?

I'd appreciate it, if somebody could answer my questions or point me in the right direction with some relevant links.

I'd like to make a website about Nova.
Informative with factual, experiences, gossip, Nova related website reviews, positive, negative, etc.
(Similar to Eric's Bruckbauer's `The Unbiased Truth about Nova`,
but more comprehensive.)

There are many stories and opinions hidden in forums and on other websites which I'd like to take parts and put onto my site.

I was wondering about copywrite.
Do I need to write the name of the author AND the source?
Do I need to ask the writer's permission?
If there are no restrictions legally, should I go still go to the trouble of requesting/informing them for ethical reasons?

Thank you

Only if you use images, and copy-paste text written by someone else. ANY, i said ANY, even if there's no sign, is ed. You must get permission from the author first. If he gives you the right to publish any of their work, then you're lucky. If the author died, which can be some case, you have to, by law, ask their blood relatives permission to do your thing.

And you're always requested to add the name of the author, to give him credit.

copywriting is still a word, it's a profession (writing copy/copy writers) who write the text on just about every piece of advertisement you see, most commonly in the form of direct mailers (such as all those wonderful letters you get from the credit card companies telling you what a wonderful person you'd be if you signed up with them).

You should probably do some searches regarding the ethics of using other people's material online, and fair usage. Basically if you are using their stuff for a school or non-profit project, they can't sue you for it as long as you say where you got it, but they can still tell you to take it down. Again, the most ethical way to cover all your bases is to secure their permission first.

Turbo,
I appreciate your responses, thanks.

Sex, drugs and rock n roll are a bad influence. Don't go near them.
Don't touch it! except for washing and urinating.
Is this your advice too?

Millions of people around the world are doing it. I'm no lawyer, but I beleive people `sue for damages`etc.If no money, emotional damage, reputation damage was involved, lawyers and judges would not support you at all.
Would they not?

If I cut and pasted one of your posts to a non profit web-site,
I can't imagine any possible way for you to sue me and win.

copywriting is still a word.....

Yes, but copywrite isn't.

Copywriting is a noun to describe the work or the occupation, copywriter is the person butI don't think there is a verb.

getting caught! I copied Japanese art and doctored it for color and size to post here on this Forum under the art gallery. I figured if there was no mention of copywrite or warnings, I should be OK. Someone contacted the Forum management here and threatened trouble(lawsuit?) so management removed the images and that was the end of it? I guess I would look at from a money point of view. If you don't have a ton of money, what can they sue you for? Unless your site became as popular as GOOGLE or YAHOO, I don't think anyone would care enough to do more then complain verbaly. I'd say go for it, do what you want using common sense, and see if anyone complains. Hopefully some other webmasters will chime in and give their 2 cents.

Frank

:?

..... the word is
I thought you might want to know since you're apparently teaching English for a living.

Firstly, I'm flattered you think I'm actually teaching English. Many consider me to be doing otherwise.
Secondly, Thank you for pointing out my error. That was like walking around with my shakai mado wide open.

My Excuse-I've been using the word `copywriter` recently and erroneously confused the two.

Turbo-san,
You confirmed what I had imagined about the strict letter of the law but I was more interested in what I can do in the real world.
Many people cut and past info to forums, quote (but not ask for permission) for school assignments, etc. and not risk prosecution.
There are some ways around copying images.
eg. If you combine images, it becomes a new image and free from copywrite.

I was wondering if take small quotes from many places, would the page or site by mine and original and safe from all copywrite laws?

Thanks again to those who contributed to this thread a while back. I decided to make quite a simple site with low maitanance. If you can click to the site, you should be able to see that there is very little or no actual content on the site but many links guiding users to what I thought was important (and what I was able to find).

Another point of interest.
When I typed in the word `copywrite` into a search engine there were thousands of webpages indexed.
Wikipedia described it as a common misspelling.

Nicegaijin,
Don't worry about this thread. It's finished.
I've decided I'll let my ethics guide me and not worry about the threat lawsuits.