Copyright

[Guest guest]

Hi Lynn:

With the help of an attorney that deals with Copyright, I drew up this very

brief synopsis:

Material like books, manuscripts, magazine articles, audio and video

recordings, electronic media such as original work posted on the Internet

are all protected from infringement by copyright law. Copyright is implied

by the original author of the work when it is printed, recorded or posted on

the Internet. Copyright is secured by the original author for a fee when it

is registered with the Library of Congress. Under copyright law, no one

may reprint or re-record work for purposes of profit without the original

author's specific permission.

Copyright covers the work until 50 years after the original author's death,

and unless copyright is renewed by the author, publisher, or certain other

individuals, it then becomes public domain.

There is a " Fair Use " clause in the law that allows copyrighted works to be

quoted from verbatim (word for word) for the purposes of critique, review

or education,and then usually less than 10 per-cent of the original work may

be quoted. (although this falls under a gray area, as it has not been

determined what percentage can be used and still be covered under the

clause).

Generally, simply posting a recipe from a book is not infringing on

an author's copyright, since it could be considered " for educational

purposes " rather than for " profit " . However, posting an entire book could

be considered infringement, since people would have no need to purchase the

book from the author.

[Guest guest]

I dont believe anyone is trying to obtain legal advice from a newsgroup.

[Guest guest]

Hi

I agree with your opinion.

How do you go about finding the owner of a copyrighted piece for permission

to reproduce it. I have several pieces i would like to use if molds could

be made.

with only the item and no other documentation available, is there a way to

protect myself from violating a copyright.

Thanks

Mike

[Guest guest]

Hi Mike:

I believe Copyright extends only to printed, recorded or visual media...not

to objects (then they are " Trademarked " )...but here's the obligatory " don't

quote me, I'm not a lawyer " ! ;-)

> How do you go about finding the owner of a copyrighted piece for

permission

> to reproduce it. I have several pieces i would like to use if molds

could

> be made.

> with only the item and no other documentation available, is there a way to

> protect myself from violating a copyright.

[Guest guest]

Hi

Thanks for your input. I hope to meet with my lawer soon and get an opinion.

Mike

[Guest guest]

I am not trying to get free legal advise from a news group. Just a topic to

discuss maybe you need to enjoy it a little more.

[Guest guest]

True you do not have to register a work to be copyrighted, however, if

the work

is registered and someone uses it illegally then you have a huge

advantage.

" ...the bulk of the benefits the copyright law offers to artists are

available only

through formally registering the art with the Copyright Office. "

Quote from the Graphic Artists Guild Pricing & Ethical Guidelines.

www.gag.org

I just finished a painting for a client, I am sending a copy off to get

registered.

;-)

-R-

Roxana Villa

Visual and Aromatic Artist

http://www.roxanavilla.com

[Guest guest]

> True you do not have to register a work to be copyrighted, however,

if the work is registered and someone uses it illegally then you have

a huge advantage.<

If someone uses your artwork illegally there are two advantages to

having registered it. One is the " fear factor " . The thief might pay

you for the use of the artwork, once you prove you registered the

work and can " easily " prove the right to ownership of it.

If that doesn't work, you'll still have to hire an attorney the same

as if you didn't register it and it was used without your permission

[stolen].

It's a misunderstanding of the law to think the law applies more so

to registered items than non-registered. It applies equally.

The other advantage other than fear, is that you actually can more

easily prove you created the work by having registered it. That may

mean lower legal fees since it is less work to document the ownership.

But there are plenty of ways to prove you own a work without

registering it. For a photographer, if they have the negative that's

pretty much proof. For a painter, a photograph of the painting along

with a bill of sale is probably enough.

Aside for those two advantages to registering, on the off chance the

image or work will be stolen and used without payment or permission,

I don't see a " huge " advantage. It's basically an insurance policy

you are unlikely to use.

My sister took a photograph of her two dogs wading in the lake at the

island our family owns in Maine. Someone saw it and thought it would

make a wonderful poster. So she had to sign over the rights to copy

the image she owned, in order for an artist to paint a painting

copying her photograph. Now there are limited edition prints made

from the painting, and they are being sold to raise money for a

Golden Retreiver organization. Each step of the way each person had

to sign the rights to copy away, in order for the next step to be

taken legally. You can't make a painting of a photograph or a print

from a painting, unless you own the right to copy that image or a

likeness of that image.

You cannot legally use images that you have not paid for without

permission from the owner.

Including the " Copyright " next to something you use is

still stealing unless you paid for the right to copy it, or

gave permission to use it.

If says, you can use my photo as long as you give me photo

credits, then you don't give the correct photo credit, that's a

contract issue -- not a copyright issue. Photo " credits " are a

separate issue from copy rights. Most magazines correct errors in

photo credits, in the next issue.

[Guest guest]

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 14:42:57 -0000, you wrote:

> <snip> . . . you do not have to register a work to be copyrighted,

> if the work is registered and someone uses it illegally then you have

> a huge advantage. <

Read about real life " copyright " experience from , at:

http://www.burnsautoparts.com/manuals/index.html

FWIW, my lawyer will not even touch ANYTHING that has not been

registered!

Enjoy . . .

-= ß =-

_______________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Dear Bobby,

I ran across an article only recently I had saved about copying copyrighted

material, but have misplaced it. It desribes that you should have permission of

the author before copying. If you are copying from a book or journal, you can

only post a few words or sentences to describe the article and then give the

exact author and name of book or source on the internet, whatever the case may

be. If you want to paraphrase an article, then you still have to give credit to

the author, etc. In your case, the article was already copied from another

publication, which I remember reading from other sources. When I post articles,

I usually put it in quotes and then the source of my information, so everyone

knows it is not my writing, believing I was covering my backside. I believe in

the past I have given more than is legally allowed before giving the source, so

I will have to remember to use less of their language and allow the reader to

check it out for himself. If we have any lawyers who would like to comment on

this, speak now or forever hold................

Hands & hearts,

Lottie