SolveYourProblem Article Series: Copyrights
I Need To Understand Copyright Law
Copyright
Infringement: It's Definition
As you’re creating something, you may wonder
what copyright infringement actually is. It’s necessary, if
you’re creating a work – albeit written, musical, videos, software
or some other form – that you know the definition of copyright
infringement. This issue is very complicated, and not very
easily spelled out in plain English, so please make sure that
if you’re ever unsure to contact a copyright lawyer immediately
to ensure you’re using copyrights in a legal method appropriate
to the medium.
As I mentioned earlier, a definition of copyright
infringement is difficult, at best. Copyright infringement
is defined by
the jurisdiction – the United States of America has different
copyright laws than the United Kingdom, or Australia, or Russia,
or even China. Because of this fact, you should first, before
anything else, check the laws in your jurisdiction (country,
city & province) before using something that isn’t in the
public domain.
For our definition of copyright infringement, the public domain
is a place where works are that aren’t copyright-able. Works
that aren’t copyright-able include ideas, works that aren’t
eligible (150 years-old documents, or older – think Beethoven
and Frankenstein), data that isn’t categorized in a creative
way (this could be a database, such as a phone book or other
publicly-accessible data), or items that the owners have specified
creative commons copyrights.
As you can see, copyright law is rather complicated. Wikipedia.org
gives us the definition of copyright infringement as: “Copyright
infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use
of material that is protected by intellectual property rights
law particularly the copyright in a manner that violates one
of the original copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as
the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or
to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term
bootleg (derived from the use of the shank of a boot for the
purposes of smuggling) is often used to describe illicitly
copied material.”
Our definition of copyright infringement includes the works
of creative commons. Creative commons is an organization that
allows for the copyright author to determine the uses available
for people who want to use their works – for such items as
for audio, images, video, text, educational materials, and
software. It allows for the copyright owner to allow people
to use their works for non-commercial, commercial, no derivatives,
share alike, or just by giving attribution. Creative Commons
is a license granted by the copyright holder, and can be used
in both online (electronic internet) works and offline works.
There are many places you can go to get a definition of copyright
infringement. The most reliable definition of copyright infringement
would be from your local copyright lawyer – they will know
exactly what in your jurisdiction is legal or not, and how
you can use other peoples’ works or protect your own.
The real definition of copyright infringement
comes from your jurisdictions statutes. In the United States
of America, our
jurisdiction’s copyright laws are contained in Title 17 of
the United States Code, §501 - §513. You can also
find a definition of copyright infringement through such organizations
such as the European Union or World Trade Organizations.
While s legal country or organizational definition of copyright
infringement is hard for the layperson to understand, a copyright
lawyer will help you to figure out what it is that your work
needs to be protected against copyright infringement, or to
protect yourself if you intend to use the work of another writer,
director, or musician. # # # # # SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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