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Social Media and Copyright Issues
Copyright issues and what you can do to walk inside the line of legality in global venues like social media
If you Tweet a quote from an Associated Press story, are you in copyright violation? If you use press releases to fill a Website with content, are you violating some code of ethics? In this article, Linda offers information about various copyright issues and what you can do to walk inside the line of legality in global venues like social media.
Digital Copyright Links
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971): Copyright under the Berne Convention must be automatic; it is prohibited to require formal registration (note however that when the United States joined the Convention in 1988, they continued to make statutory damages and attorney's fees only available for registered works). More about this law under "Other Links" below.
- Creative Commons: A wonderful resource that allows you, the Web site author/owner/publisher to let others know what they can and cannot use from your site.
- Digital Copyright Canada: The Digital Copyright Canada forum was started in Aug 2001 to allow for a public response to that phase of the Canadian copyright revision process.
- Digital Rights Management: A Wikipedia article that provides many links to understanding intellectual property rights.
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act: This Wikipedia version is easy to understand, and it includes links to actual documents.
- FLOSS Broadcast: Enjoy a weekly broadcast on Free/Libre/Open Source initiatives.
- United States Copyright Office: Most useful if you want to register something in the U.S. or if you've been accused of copyright violation within the U.S.
- Where to Copyright: An extensive guide on where to copyright your work.
- World Intellectual Property Association: Although there is no international copyright law system in place, this United Nations site attempts to help authors and other creatives retain rights to their intellectual property on a global basis.
Other Links
- 10 Big Myths about copyright explained: Updated in 2008, this article defines some contentious copyright issues.
- A History of Free and Open Source: Groklaw offers this overview of Open Source origins and information about Creative Commons and FLOSS (free/libre/open source).
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works: Once again, Wikipedia comes to the resuce, with an easy understanding of the Berne Conventions and Union.
- Copyright Crash Course: A great way to become somewhat versed in copyright law. I say "somewhat," as this course was written in 2001.
- Copyright Law in the Digital Age: Written by a photo magazine, this article does not offer legal advice, but sensible advice on what to do and not do regarding Fair Use, Derivative Use and Public Domain.
- Copyright Litigation Blog: This New York attorney wrote the Copyright Litigation Handbook, and offer his perspectives through this blog.
- Digital Copyright Law Under Scrutiny: Read this 2006 story to understand the lack of vision included in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
- EU Copyright: This site not only discusses EU copyright issues, but compares them to U.S. laws and issues.
- EU: Europe Need To Revise Copyright Laws For Internet: From the UK Times Archive, dated September this year. This is an urging for EU copyright laws to mimic those that Google is developing regarding the ability to reprint print matter online.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.