When It's Created, It's Copyrighted

The title above is, in a nutshell, the meaning of the copyright law as it pertains to creative works. Simple and straightforward: Whoever makes it, owns it and in turn grants legal permission for its use to you, the corporate client. Back in the day when you needed a negative or the original transparency to make a decent usable image, it was easier to safeguard photographs against unauthorized use. Now with digital technology, there is no difference between "original" and "duplicate," and copying images is, in some cases, all too easy.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Who Owns My Work? The State of Work for Hire for Academics in Technical Communication    

The work-for-hire doctrine in intellectual property law is important to academics in rhetoric and technical communication. In this article, I explain the doctrine and the way it works, explicate related case law, and suggest treatment of work for hire by instructors and administrators in rhetoric and technical communication.

Herrington, Tyanna K. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Who Owns What? Intellectual Property, Copyright, and the Next Millennium  

This issue of JEP discusses e-publishing's intellectual-property issues.

LeJeune, Lorrie. Journal of Electronic Publishing (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Work for Hire for Nonacademic Creators    

This article examines the Work for Hire Doctrine and its importance to technical communication instructors who prepare students to create intellectual products in workplace settings. The author explains how the Work for Hire Doctrine operates in practice, charts the progressive legal treatment of work for hire through case law, and calls attention to the developing trend in the courts to support a more protectionist stance regarding creative products.

Herrington, Tyanna K. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Education

You *Still* Can't Touch This: Copyright Law, Hip-Hop and Tech Comm

Perhaps unfortunately, the field of tech comm has few, if any, well-known examples of what happens to those who don’t pay attention to copyright issues. One of the most interesting areas in which to explore the perils of copyright violation is in the world of American hip-hop music. I will explore the similarities between the copyright issues faced by hip-hop artists, and those faced by technical communicators.

deMaagd, Christian. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

The New Copyright Law: Its Impact on Bio-Medical Communication

Under previous copyright legislation and jurisprudence, medical, and to a lesser extent, educational professionals, were afforded broad discretion under the judicially created fair use doctrine. The Copyright Act of 1976 creates a statutory definition of fair use and prescribes a test to be used in determining when a use is "fair" and when it is infringement. Central to this test is "impact of potential market value" of the material. Biomedical communication involves material with a very high unit cost which is not offset by anything approaching mass distribution. There is no special exemption for, or understanding of, biomedical communication in the new law, with the result that the potential for a restrictive impact is great.

Johnson, Mark. ERIC Digest (1978). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Biomedical

A Uniform Conceptual Model for Knowledge Management of International Copyright Law    

Copyright issues are significant for worldwide information sharing, while mutual understanding about the commonalities and differences among international copyright law articles is difficult due to the diversity of legal knowledge representation. The goal of our research is to propose an appropriate methodology and capture a uniform conceptual model that will provide semantic level representation for processing and modelling international legal knowledge using ontological technology. This paper proposes a preliminary intention-oriented legal knowledge model as a pivotal model that, from the viewpoint of intention behind the law, manages and models legal knowledge derived from international law documents. We develop a domain ontology — international copyright law ontology, which is used as a fundamental conceptual framework to maintain consistency among diverse legal knowledge representations.

Lu, Wenhuan and Mitsuru Ikeda. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Knowledge Management

Copyright for Corporate Information Professionals: Staying Within the Law    

Considers the role of copyright in the dissemination of information within the corporate sector. Examines the various forms of authorization available for companies using copyright-protected content to ensure compliance with copyright law. Discusses the distinction the law makes between copying for a commercial purpose as opposed to copying for a non-commercial purpose. Looks at the limited scope for businesses to rely on the copyright exceptions to justify their copying, particularly fair dealing. Considers licensing as a way of being able to do more than the copying exceptions would allow, and the interrelationship between contract law and copyright law. Outlines some copyright legal cases and the lessons we can learn from them. Sets out examples of copying activities that should be avoided if one wants to reduce the risk of being accused of copyright infringement.

Pedley, Paul. Business Information Review (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Workplace

A Comparison of Academics' Attitudes Towards the Rights Protection of Their Research and Teaching Materials    

This paper compares two JISC-funded surveys. The first was undertaken by the Rights MEtadata for Open Archiving (RoMEO) project and focused on the rights protection required by academic authors sharing their research outputs in an open-access environment. The second was carried out by the Rights and Rewards project and focused on the rights protection required by authors sharing their teaching materials in the same way. The data are compared. The study reports confusion amongst both researchers and teachers as to copyright ownership in the materials they produced. Researchers were more restrictive about the permissions they would allow, but were liberal about terms and conditions. Teachers would allow many permissions, but under stricter terms and conditions. The study concludes that a single rights solution could not be used for both research and teaching materials.

Gadd, Elizabeth, Steve Loddington and Charles Oppenheim. Journal of Information Science (2007). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Academic

Can Filesharers Be Triggered by Economic Incentives? Results of an Experiment    

Illegal filesharing on the internet leads to considerable financial losses for artists and copyright owners as well as producers and sellers of music. Thus far, measures to contain this phenomenon have been rather restrictive. However, there are still a considerable number of illegal systems, and users are able to decide quite freely between legal and illegal downloads because the latter are still difficult to sanction. Recent economic approaches account for the improved bargaining position of users. They are based on the idea of revenue-splitting between professional sellers and peers. In order to test such an innovative business model, the study reported in this article carried out an experiment with 100 undergraduate students, forming five small peer-to-peer networks. The networks were confronted with different economic conditions. The results indicate that even experienced filesharers hold favourable attitudes towards revenue-splitting. They seem to be willing to adjust their behaviour to different economic conditions.

Quiring, Oliver, Benedikt Von Walter and Richard Atterer. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Case Studies

Real Web 2.0: Mastering the Creative Commons

The Creative Commons (CC) initiative develops popular licenses for content, including Web content. Some people think using these licenses means giving up all your rights to content, but this is just one of many misconceptions. Learn how to choose and use CC licenses for your Web sites and applications and how to process these licenses in code.

Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

A Savvy Approach to Copyright Messaging

A technique which allows photographers to add human-readable copyright messages to their work that stays with the photo but doesn’t get in the way of the vast majority of viewers who just want to enjoy the photo for a moment, and then go on with their day.

Powazek, Derek. Powazek.com (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Web Design

Adobe Captivate 3: Is It Legal to Add Copyrighted Music to eLearning?

I'm not a copyright lawyer (and I don't play one on TV). However, I have had more than one copyright lawyer in my Captivate classes over the past few years who have agreed that it is "perfectly fine to use copyrighted music in Captivate projects, provided the lesson you create is meant for educational purposes and that you do not use more than 10% of the copyrighted works or 30 seconds, whichever comes first."

Siegel, Kevin A. Blogs.com (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Education

Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?  

According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a trade group representing film studios, book publishers, and the like. Last year, the alliance says, copyrighted material contributed more than $400 billion to the national economy and was the country's singlemost important export. These figures may actually understate the value of copyright.

Hart, Hillary. Atlantic Monthly (1998). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

A Call for Realism

If there once was an implicit social contract in this area, it has arguably broken down on a personal, day‑to‑day level in much the same way that it did during the prohibition of the 1920s. Enforcement of copyright laws remains nearly impossible under existing Internet architecture for the type of private copying that takes place in cyberspace on a daily basis.

Biegel, Stuart. UCLA (2001). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Technology Transfer

Is There a Chilling of Digital Communication? Exploring How Knowledge and Understanding of the Fair Use Doctrine May Influence Web Composing

Does law, or even the presence of the law, shape composing practices? Do fair use/copyright play a part in the web composing practices/pedagogy of students and teachers in technical communication programs as they construct web sites and design curriculum? The pilot study was intended to test the design for a larger study. The study aims to fill in gaps and resolve confusion about how fair use/copyright shapes digital writing.

Rife, Martine Courant and William Hart-Davidson. Social Science Research Network (2006). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Web Design

Teaching Copyright

A balanced curriculum to help students understand and exercise their digital rights and responsibilities with intellectual property. Working with educators from around the country, the EFF aimed to design a fun and flexible plan that would not just provide information, but also help foster basic skills in research, writing, and critical thinking.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (2009). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Education

Intellectual Property and the Not-So-Free Web

When you think of the free Web in the context of not having to pay for something, remember that there’s another aspect: Nearly everything that’s on the Web belongs to someone. And because the Web is so widely accessible, it’s entirely possible that if you abuse someone’s rights regarding their intellectual property, they will discover it and exercise their rights.

Minson, Benjamin. Gryphon Mountain (2009). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Intellectual Property Responsibilities of Content Developers

As a technical writer, I develop content for the applications I'm supporting. Often that includes designing content, images, and multi-media to provide the best user experience possible. As content developers, however, we have a responsibility (both legal and moral) to ensure that the content we are using is being used properly and legally.

Pherson, Paul. Technically Speaking (2009). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Ethics

A Call for Copyright Rebellion

Copyright law was originally intended to protect those who create for profit (Lessig used the example of recording artist Britney Spears). But academics also create original works, he said, and they are — or should be — motivated by a desire to advance human knowledge, not line their pockets. Therefore, sealing their work behind copyright barriers does no social good.

Kolowich, Steve. Inside Higher Education (2009). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Academic

The Culture of Sharing: Why Releasing Copyright Will Be the Smartest Thing You Do

A large number of us want people to be able to share ideas and communicate freely, without legal restrictions. And I’d go even further: we like it when creative people freely share their work with us, and allow us to use their work (or derivatives of it) in our own work. This is the Culture of Sharing that is growing on the Internet.

Babauta, Leo. Write to Done (2009). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Writing