- This is a personal page on copyright. All opinions are solely that of the author.
- For the official page on copyright, see Copyright.
- For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:Copyrights.
Copyright is the sole, exclusive right to a work. Such as: a video, book, music or sound recording, or digital file. A work is automatically copyrighted the moment it is created "in a tangible medium" as explained above. (At least that is in the United States. I'm not exactly sure about other countries, whether it is automatically public domain or not?)
Evolution of laws
editIt was clear from the beginning that to have your work protected by copyright, it had to both be registered AND have a notice of copyright on it, else it was automatically public domain. But after several laws were passed in the 1970s and 1980s, works were automatically copyrighted, regardless of the appearance of a copyright statement.
For example, most commercial videos and DVDs begin with the obligatory FBI warning that says the work is authorized only for home use (or "private [home] use") and all other rights were reserved. But even if a tape or disc does not have the "Warning of Doom," it is still copyrighted.
Registration benefits
editSo why register your work? For one thing, your work is "literally copyrighted." A term I created myself. But this makes no sense because if your work is not copyrighted it is in the public domain. If it is "copyrighted" people will automatically think it is actually registered in the Copyright Office.
Well, almost everybody. A certain online-exclusive comic strip owns the copyright to their work. But if they registered the strips (possibly in an entire volume), they could prove that they are the copyright owners.
In a similar way, if your work is not registered, you'll only be able to sue for "actual damages," which is "damages awarded to compensate a plaintiff's actual losses (for example, lost profits) arising from the wrongful actions of the defendant. A plaintiff must prove the amount of his losses and that they are specifically and directly attributable to the defendant's actions" (source: RTNDA Hidden Camera Definitions)
BUT, if your work IS registered, you will also be able to sue for:
- Statutory damages, "damages which are set in amount by the legislature for particular statutory violations. Plaintiffs can collect damages in the amount set by statute without proving actual losses." (source: see above)
- Injunctive relief in your favor. According to our own Wikipedia article, "[a]n injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels ("enjoins" or "restrains") a party from continuing a particular activity. The party that fails to adhere to the injunction faces civil or criminal contempt of court and may have to pay damages or sanctions for failing to follow the court's order."
Taking action
editHowever, it's not like the police or someone will tramp on the infringer's house. You have to take actions yourself to protect your self. You can go straight to suing, or threaten them with a "cease-and-desist" letter.
Example: The Simpsons Archive once contained Simpsons computer icons created by Jeanette Foshee. But, in the event, of course, 20th Century Fox heard about it and sent an "overnight letter" to her saying that her icons were infringing on their copyright, and demanded that she:
- "cease and desist" distributing the icons,
- ask downloaders to stop using the icons,
- send to Fox "all disks containing such icons, all related artwork, or any other materials on hand,"
- state any revenues that came from these icons (which would be unnecessary in this case, as the icons were free of charge), and
- state the names and addresses to everyone who had been distributed the icons (which she admitted on the page that "[she] didn't know anyone in person"), as well as any Internet servers that the icons had been uploaded on.
All these "demands" had to be complete by 5:00 p.m. on November 10, 1995. To read the letter, go to the former icons page.
It was clear to Fox that the icons were an unauthorized derivative work of their television series, which had been (and is) registered in the Copyright Office. It makes sense for Fox to protect themselves and their copyright.
In a similar way, YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION to enforce your copyright. There are many ways to write cease-and-desist letters. Search cease-and-desist letters on Google. There are some for trademarks; most are for copyrights, and some are applicable on the condition that you registered your copyright.
"Some rights reserved"
editSome people however, want to allow people to copy, display, and distribute their work, but retain all other rights. "Some rights reserved." Unfortunately the copyright laws say nothing at all about how you should explain your want to give the world a fair share of uses, and keep the rest. (If you want to, anyway...)
This type of "flexible copyright" was created in 2002 by a non-profit corporation, Creative Commons. Some works I create will be subject to these licenses. Everything from a simple attribution, to a no-sell, no-change rule.
The Macintosh Classic app "Solitaire Till Dawn" says that you can freely reproduce and distribute the work, but no alteration or selling is allowed. If Creative Commons existed in the day, the creators would probably license that work under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.
One unusual situation is both having your work registered in the C.O. AND licensing it under the CC license. That way you can C&D (cease-and-desist) them to stop, say, selling your work, or take legal action that would be (almost?) the same as if you said, "All rights reserved."
Phew...I've said enough already. So, without further ado, in witness whereof the author of this document has subscribed the Universal Resource Locator (URL) of his home page to the top of this document.
External links
editU.S. Copyright Office (But you knew that, didn't you?) Creative Commons