Copyright Infringement. It Affects All Creatives – including Authors, Artists, Photographers, Songwriters.

Any creative person will tell you that a part of them goes into everything they create. They are driven by a need to process thoughts and ideas into a project they hope others will enjoy. This is true for writers, artists and photographers, in fact, anyone who works in the creative arts industry.

The creative industry is enormous and with the advent of the Internet, especially for writers and photographers, there is a worldwide audience to see and purchase their work. However, the Internet has caused multiple copyright issues.

Copyright theft is a serious crime and should not be taken lightly. Learn what copyright actually is before you use someone’s photo or article.

Known as “Copyright Act” in many countries, it is this set of laws that a creator will turn to when there are issues with copyright infringements.

The laws that determine who owns the copyright to an original piece of work are complex and differ in every country. Copyright is there to protect the originator of the work from unauthorised use, ie: the originator has not given permission for use of the article/photo/song lyrics; payment has not been discussed or made to the originator, the work has been changed without permission, or the work is attributed to the user and not the originator.

There are economic and non-economic rights given to an originator. The non-economic or ‘moral’ rights include the integrity, the attribution and false attribution that may be compromised of the author.

A distinction exists between the copyright of the work and the ownership of the actual (physical) work. What this means is that even though you may purchase a book, you are the owner of the physical book, but this does not give you the right to make copies of the book and sell it. The right to copy always remains with the person who creates the piece of work, copyright ownership does not change once the work is purchased.

This distinction also applies to works of photography. Even if a photo is purchased the user does not have the right to onsell the photo or to change it and claim the photo as their own. It is important to use the correct attribution and negotiate this with the creator prior to using the photo. Many photo sites have different levels of attribution, see links for more information.

Copyright can be attributed to creative works like: text, music and sound recordings, films, computer programs and software, paintings and other creative artistic works such as pottery, crockery or even glass. Copyright cannot be attributed to an idea or a concept but will be attributed to the items that form the piece of work, eg: the script for a movie or illustrations for a book.

In some countries it is not necessary to register a piece of work for copyright, it can be automatic once the work is put into a physical form, written or recorded.

Creators can, if they wish, sell their copyright. This may happen in the case of a writer selling the copyright to a publisher.

Anyone who places their creative work on the Internet is protected by copyright and although some people think that everything on the net is free to be used, this is not the case. Many novice bloggers use Google Images when they want to use a photo for their site or blog, but this is a mistake, as Google does not own images, it just allows people to find images easily.

New writers on the Internet may be unaware they are creating copyright problems for themselves by using images without permission or giving the correct attribution to the creator. As a novice Internet writer myself a few years ago I inadvertently used a photo from Google Images for one of my first hubs on Hubpages. The offending photo has been removed because approx 18 months after writing the article the original creator of the photo, Chris Martino (http://prints.chrismartino.com), sent me a copyright infringement notice.

Imagine my horror when I received the notice, as I had also sent copyright infringement notices out to other people who had copied a few of my hubs. Regretably I too had done the same thing without realising it.

My advise to any new creative person using the Internet to showcase their work, make sure it is your own work and you are not infringing any copyright. For any new Hubpages writers, please go to the Learning Center and read up on what you need to know to use this site correctly and effectively. This link is specifically for use of images, http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/legal-image-use, but the learning center covers many topics and will give you many tips and ideas.

Remember, copyright infringement is a crime. The cases of the photo and my copied hubs were handled in an amicable manner with all parties agreeing to the final outcomes. Take care with copyright because it could end up costing you a lot more than just financially, your professional reputation could also be at stake.

Copyright

(c) Copyright to this article on Hubpages is owned by MPG Narratives and may not be copied without express permission from the writer. Payment for use of any article written by MPG Narratives is by negotiation.