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Copyright Law as it pertains to the written word in Cyberspace.
Did you know the minute you write something down it is automatically copyrighted? We are all very careful to put the little copyright notice on the bottom of our web pages and it is not necessary in order to be considered copyrighted. Copyright law is very vague and online it's even more vague. Many people think that because something is posted for the public to view that makes it ok and legal to take. Not so!
Pretty much all writings are copyrighted You don't need to apply to the Library of Congress. You don't need to put a notice on it. It's copyrighted the moment you WRITE it down. When you send an email to a friend, it's copyrighted. It does NOT imply the friend is free to forward to others unless you have given permission to do so. So you see copyright law applies to electronic writing as well as words written on a piece of paper.
Copyright Laws are pretty much the same in Cyberspace as in the real world. Some have argued that there should be different or no copyright rules for online writings. But Congress is not about to approve that. Any time you make copies of someone's written words (or images) without express or implied permission you have committed copyright infringement.
Copyright infringement covers many kinds of copying. If you make copies of only part of someone's work without permission you have still infringed on his copyright. If you paraphrase and it's too close to the original sentence you are in violation of his copyright. This violation includes businesses as well as personal copyrights. You MAY copy the facts from someones work because the facts are in public domain. For instance a research project on certain medical or historic subjects have facts which may be copied. But if you copy their words you would be in violation of their copyright. You MAYcopy an idea but not the words used to express the idea. For instance if I were to have an idea for an invention, you may copy that idea but you may not use the words that I used to describe my invention. Maybe you wouldn't be very ethical to take my idea but you would NOT be in violation of my copyright. Nor would you be in violation of my patent because at this point it was an idea only.
There are also implied and non-implied licenses. If something is posted in a group situation it is generally implied that you are free to copy it, depending on the type of group you have. Implied License can only be granted by the holder of the copyright and this license can be revoked just by saying so along with the message. For instance, you might say, no copying or reproduction allowed without the express permission of the author.
You may also have Fair and Unfair use of a copyright It could be considered FAIR use if you are only copying a small amount of text. Or you may be adding a great deal to the small amount of original text and it could be considered FAIR use. Are you leaving the copyright owner the possiblity of still earning money by copying only the small portion you are copying? If so this is probably FAIR use. Copying small excerpts are considered FAIR use. Copying something and making money by copying it would be considered UNFAIRand would be called Commercial Copying. Copying unpublished work would be UNFAIR. Any time your copying keeps another person or business from making sales or profit in any way it is considered UNFAIR.
My son-in-law writes poetry and some of it has been published on the web. If a person copies his poems and sells them or just copies them to frame, that violates his copyright. The first instance keeps him from then making money on his own product and the second puts his work on display without his permission.
The same thing applies to images we design and place on the web. We give permission to others to display them but do not give permission to have them alter them and sell them as their own.
Copyright laws can be vague as I said in the beginning of this article, but there is one rule to apply. When in doubt, don't. I don't pretend to know all about copyrights but I hope I have helped you even if only a bit. There are many places to research this subject online and I have no doubt that one day in the not too distant future, copyright laws in cyberspace will be as clear cut as they are in the everyday world.
Source for this article: Copyright Law in Cyberspace by the Cyberspace Law Institute and Counsel Connect.
Since I wrote this article the above link has changed. Instead refer to this link for general information regarding Copyright Basics issued by the US Copyright Office.
A links page of resources for copyright issues In Search of Resources
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