How To Not Get Sued Under US Copyright Law

This reading review written by Jaclyn Williams is automatically protected under Australian Copyright Law. So ner.

What is protected under US Copyright Law?

Just about everything, including: literary, musical, dramatic, and choreography works.  Artistic works, sound recordings and architecture. If you made it, you can copyright it!

So what happens if I use something that’s copyrighted?

You could die. Well, maybe not that serious. But you could be sued by a lawyer-happy American, and that’s never fun. US Copyright gives the person holding the “rights” to the work protection by making it possible to sue whoever they feel is unfairly using their work. This means that if you were to include three chapters of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in your novel, she has every right to take you to court and sue you for copyright infringement – as Harry Potter belongs to her and her only. The same goes for images, music, everything listed above and probably more.

Is there ANY way to get around copyright?

Of course there is. US Copyright law includes a loophole known as ‘Fair Use’. Fair Use allows us to use small quotes and samples from another work, without express permission. But, as with all loopholes – there’s a few things to keep in mind when deciding if you’re in line with their idea of ‘fair use’.

-          Purpose and character of use (commercial or non-profit)

-          Nature of the copyrighted work

-          Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the whole work

-          Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

All that was taken from About.com, who explain it much better than I can. Being as this is for educational use, non-profit, I’ve credited the source and it’s only a small quotation – it comes under fair use.

Okay, so I can do that – what else?

There’s also Transfer of Rights, which allows you to use any copyrighted material you like – so long as you have written permission from the copyright owner! It sounds easy, but don’t underestimate the attachment some artists have to their work – so don’t be offended if you get a big fat rejection.

You know, this is beginning to sound hopeless...

I know. Copyright is a tough thing to work out. But since the internet, there’s been a huge increase in the number of resources out there that will give you permission to use their work, provided you include a credit somewhere in the finished piece. Little-known artists and photographers (particularly on Deviantart.com) use this as a way to be recognised, and the number of the people who want to see their work reused in a new way is growing!

Other than that, I’m afraid your only option is to wait... up to 95 years after publication date for anonymous works, and the authors life span plus seventy years after death for works created or published after January 1978.

Right-i-o then, any good advice?

Yep. If in doubt – don’t use it. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

[This page created by Jaclyn Williams {3725454} of Victoria University for ACM1006: Digital Video and Sound.]

http://www.tallygarunga.com