The proper protocols to deal with infringement of authored
images and content online has become a minefield of misinformation, some
of which can land webmasters in big trouble with copyright law.
Protect
yourself by understanding what's at stake, and why.
Introduction
Fair
usage and image copyrighting in the age of the internet is a complex
and ever-changing expanse of updated and upgraded copyright laws
designed to net the various thefts that can occur on a frontier like the
World Wide Web.
It's more important now than ever before for
webmasters, small business owners, and other online users to understand
their present day rights with an eye for the overriding legislation that
is quickly gaining momentum in the war against online infringement.
The Goalposts Have Moved
The
old adage about images needing an explicit copyright notice has
vanished, and as far as the current laws are concerned, the moment a
private creation is invented it receives an instantaneous copyright that
positions it legally to seek out and shut down anyone who fringes upon
the automated systematization of copyright in the modern world.
Most
of the famous copyright sayings, in fact, have become outdated by the
quickening pace of legislation. People could once use images freely so
long as they did not charge for the image, or construe any implicit
profit from the image's use, but now the courts in most countries will
accept damage lawsuits regardless of whether or not an offender made any
profit.
Fair Use?
The fair use shield that internet users
once wielded against potential copyright claims has been broken down and
discarded; the fair use exemption applying only to necessities in news
and commentary. This excludes the vast majority of personal blogs and
websites that have been bandying about the claim under false impressions
of protection from the infringement they are committing.
Copyright Legislation
This
is an increasingly difficult problem for many webmasters, who need to
rely on the internet's vast portfolio of images to fill their blog with
aesthetically pleasing content but no longer have any leg to stand on
when it comes to protecting themselves against infringing on the natural
copyright allowed to the owners of those images.
In order to
successfully maneuver these muddy waters, it's necessary to understand
the workings of copyright, and how to circumvent them. The copyrights
themselves are automatic upon the creation of any original work of
authorship, so first and foremost webmasters must always assume that any
image they find online is copyrighted.
Attribution and Creative Commons
Another
misunderstood reaction to copyright has seen many bloggers and website
owners linking back to the original content or author in an assumption
that this acknowledgement frees them from infringement, but
unfortunately, that's not accurate either; giving credit where credit is
due is polite, but it does not give anyone license to display anything.
Photo
websites like Photo8, Morgue File and Flickr do provide sections of
legal fair use images that everybody can pick and choose from, and
Creative Commons licenses are alternative solutions from the non-profit
sector that can release copyright licenses to allow the owners of said
content to reserve the right to dictate who can use their image,
including waiving their copyrighted ownership for public usage.
Attributions
are still few and far between for the majority of users and bloggers,
necessitating some higher protocols for mainstream internet users to use
when receiving express written or acknowledged permission from the
author of the image before using that image under any circumstances.
Conclusion
Trademarks
and recognizable © symbols for copyright are no longer indicative of
protected content, and in an online frontier of excessive protections
it's important for webmasters to play by the rules so they do not become
the targets of an online take-down.
People should familiarize
themselves with the actual definition of 'fair use' as it applies to the
online world, the way in which they intend to use the image, whether or
not the image has been altered from its original version, and make a
final appraisal on the potential risks associated with the image usage.
By
Robert T Andrews
