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The Law Overview Whether you are designing your own homepage for business or pleasure, surfing for fun or researching for school or work or whether you are a webmaster supreme or first time user, the law of copyright will be an important influence on all of these activities. Copyright in the United States is legal protection that is given to literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works created by "authors" and fixed in a tangible medium, whether such works are published or unpublished. Unless the work is a "work made for hire", the "author" for purposes of the Copyright Act is generally the person who creates the work. A person may be called an "author" of a work even though the work created is a photograph, painting, novel, videotape or a sound recording. Authors are the individuals who created the work or can be entities that have received rights from the creator through the "work for hire doctrine." The Copyright Act of 1976 generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following things with the work: to reproduce it (make copies), to prepare derivative works based on the work (like a movie based on a story), to distribute copies to the public (like selling your photographs), to perform the copyrighted work publicly (like playing recorded music in bars or nightclubs of a certain size), to display the copyrighted work publicly (unveil a statue or sculpture), and with respect to sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission (certain types of webcasting). Although there is no unique specialized set of copyright laws applicable to the Internet, general copyright principles apply, as do established defenses and limitations on authors' and owners' rights. The "owner" is the owner of the copyright (not necessarily the tangible object embodying the copyright) at any given time. Initially, unless the work is a work for hire, the creator (author) and the owner are the same person because copyright protects any copyrightable work that is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Perhaps the most widely invoked defense to copyright infringement is "fair use", which is available in the context of the Internet in appropriate circumstances. Generally speaking for surfers and webmasters, copyright law will require analysis of each element of a web page or web site as if the element were by itself, and then consideration of all of the components together. At the most basic level, web pages frequently contain words (and hypertext), images (including photographs, graphic designs, videos and reproductions of fine art) and music , the creation and use of which are controlled by copyright law. In addition to their web pages, Webcasters must also ensure that their web "radio" broadcasts comply with new guidelines and regulations passed by Congress as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Avoid Infringing Copyrights of Others When Surfing the Internet or Using Pre-Existing Works to Create Web Pages. The use of words and text from pre-existing sources, such as articles, books and other published and unpublished written works, images (including photographs, graphic designs, videos and reproductions of fine art) and music as integrated into a web page or viewed while surfing will be governed by the copyright basics applicable to each such area. As a result, neither webmasters nor surfers can exercise any of the exclusive rights of the author or owner of the copyrighted words, images or music without the author or owner's consent. It is important to avoid a common misassumption about copyrighted works: transferring the material object that embodies a protected work (i.e., books, magazines, etc.) does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright. Thus, merely owning a book, picture or compact disc does not entitle you to copy images, text or music from the object you own and post them on line. Similarly, the fact that text or material is available on line does not mean that it can be copied and used by web masters or surfers without an appropriate agreement. Even if the text appears without a copyright notice, it may nonetheless be protected and cannot be used unless properly licensed. Moreover, even if you have obtained a license for using the material in a particular medium, you may not be able to use it in another (i.e., you may have licensed the right to print certain textual materials; that does not ensure that you have the right to publish those materials on line). The precise terms of your license will govern this issue. If you want to incorporate pre-existing text into your web site or copy it while surfing, you should first find out the copyright status of the material you are considering. There are rights clearinghouse facilities or membership organizations for literary works that may be of assistance, such as the Copyright Clearance Center , Authors' Registry , and the National Writers Union Publications Rights Clearinghouse. Significantly, the Copyright Office has made it clear that words and short phrases such as names and titles and slogans, variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring are not subject to copyright. Such words and slogans, names and titles, may, however, be protected as trademarks or trade names under other federal and state laws. In the case of music and images , there are organizations similar to the Copyright Clearance Center that can help individuals determine the status of a particular work and to avoid infringement by obtaining the appropriate clearances. Without appropriate permission, use of text, images or music that is not in the public domain may result in infringement unless such use falls within recognized defenses to copyright infringement, such as fair use, noted above.
Protecting your own content from online infringement If you have created material subject to copyright protection and wish to incorporate that original material into your web site, you can maximize your rights under the Copyright Act by taking a few simple steps. First, you can register materials that you are putting on your web site that you want to protect, since, you must have a copyright registration for a work before you can file suit for infringement of that work. There are different copyright forms for different kinds of works. For example, Form TC is available from the United States Copyright Office , and covers textual works (including HTML code and software). Original photographs and music require different forms as fully explained in the Images and Music sections of this site. Second, put a copyright notice on all your web site pages containing material original to you. Copyright notice is no longer a prerequisite to copyright protection in this country, but it does put U.S. visitors on notice that you claim exclusive rights in the expressive content of your page. Such notice also precludes an infringer from claiming that the infringement was "innocent", which can affect the amount of statutory damages you may be eligible to receive, and there are still a few foreign countries where copyright notice is a prerequisite to bringing suit to enforce your copyright. Finally, you should assert strict contractual control over third party uses of your material in online and other licenses, including web site development contract, web site promotion/publicity contracts and web-linking agreements.
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