ERIC
SPELLMANN
Copyright and the World Wide Web
- Eric
Spellman takes a look at what US law says you can copy off the
internet and what you can't - many of the principles hold good
for UK law
The
internet is a sea of information. With today's search tools, you
can find the information you want in seconds. However, once you've
found that golden web page, what can you do with it? Can you legally
copy it into your own presentation or report?
By answering two questions, you'll have the answer.
First, is the work copyrighted? If not, have at it! Copy all you want. If the
work is copyrighted, you may still be able to copy it if your intent can be
titled "fair use".
But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the word, "copyright".
Authors are given a mini-monopoly to reproduce, distribute, adapt, perform
and display their work to encourage development of new work. In other words,
they have the RIGHT to COPY their own work. If this mini-monopoly interferes
with the 'general' production of more new work, however, limitations are placed
upon it.
One of these limitations is called "fair use". It gives scholars,
researchers, authors, etc, permission to make limited use of another's work
without asking permission. This "limited use" would include criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Despite that widely accepted description, copyright law does not define "fair
use". Instead, whether a use is "fair use" is determined by
balancing these factors:
1 The purpose and character of the use
2 The nature of the copyrighted work
3 The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted
work as a whole
4 The effect of the use on the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted
work
The 'fair use' of a copyrighted work is not an infringement of copyright. Copyright
owners are, by law, deemed to consent to fair use of their works by others.
Remember, according to law, the intent of copyright is "to promote the
progress of science and the useful arts".
In the end, it is generally up to users to police themselves in the area of "fair
use". Blatant violations, though, can end you up in court!
Many people have the mistaken belief that a copyright protects a work forever.
Not so! Any work published before 1923 is now in the public domain and is not
covered by any copyright law. Works created between 1923 and 1978 are protected
for about 70 years (depending on the exact creation/publishing date). Any work
created after 1978 is protected for "the life of the author plus 70 years".
If the work was created corporately (by more than one person), it is protected
for 120 years from the date of creation.
Make sense? I doubt it. My head is still buzzing with all the exceptions, clauses,
and other fine print. And before you ask ... Yes, some lawyers specialize in
this field of law. They can assist you in protecting your copyrightable property.
Sidenote: Every year, thousands of books quietly move out of copyright and
into the "public domain". The Gutenberg Project (gutenberg.net) aims
to catalogue (word for word) all of these books before they disappear into
history. The site allows you to download entire books onto your system and
read them at your leisure.
So, let's say you find a public domain passage of text on a web page and you
want to copy it into a report. Instead of retyping it, follow these easy steps:
1 Highlight the text (Hold down your left mouse button while dragging the pointer
across the text).
2 Pull down the EDIT menu and choose COPY.
3 Switch over to your word processor. Position the cursor to exactly where
you want the new text to be inserted.
4 Pull down the EDIT menu and choose PASTE.
I know it sounds complicated, but once you do it a few times, it becomes very
quick.
Copying public domain pictures can be even easier. IF you are using Internet
Explorer:
1 Position your mouse pointer over the picture you want.
2 Right click (Click the right mouse button) and choose COPY.
3 Switch to your word processor. Pull down the EDIT menu and choose PASTE.
If you want to practise some of these techniques LEGALLY, head over to the
Library of Congress' American Memory Section (memory.loc.gov).
Be sure and read their "Copyright and Restrictions" link, and then
click on "Collection Finder". If you dig deep enough, you'll find
a treasure trove of historical documents and photos to play with.
Before I finish, though, I need to mention a little twist to copyright law
that occurred in 1998: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
This incredibly controversial law extends and strengthens copyright in cyberspace.
Basically, it criminalizes the act of circumventing copy-protection software.
In addition, it extends copyright violation liability from a user to his provider.
In other words, let's say you decided to put the full lyrics of your favourite
pop song on your web page. According to the DMCA, your web-hosting provider
can be held monetarily liable for the copyright infringement.
To learn more about copyright law, including how to copyright your own works,
check out the official US Copyright Office (lcweb.loc.gov/copyright).
I'll see you in cyberspace!
- Eric
Spellmann is the owner of Spellmann & Associates, a corporate
technology training facility in Amarillo, Texas. Besides his
weekly column, he produces technology segments for his local
CBS television affiliate and speaks at numerous conferences.
If you would like to
receive the full transcripts of his columns as well as the television segments he produces for CBS, sign up for his FREE e-mail newsletter by sending a blank message to nl@ericspellmann.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject. Or, you can sign up at his website:
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