1. "Copyright & Privacy Laws"
Posted by kimberly on Mar-22nd-03 at 4:58 PM

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/


http://law.duke.edu/copyright/face/index.htm
http://www.law.duke.edu/copyright/face/stilim/index.htm
http://www.law.duke.edu/copyright/face/softint/index.htm

I spose this is "fair use":

"If there is no © sign or other copyright notice on or near an image, I don't need permission to use it, do I?
The absence of a copyright notice does not mean that you are free to use an image. Since 1989, copyright notice is nolonger a requirement under the Copyright Act. Even before 1989, the work without notice might have been published without authority or the notice might have been omitted in breach of contract which would not have placed the work in the public domain. Again, the basic assumption has to be that there is a valid copyright."


"If I alter a work of visual art 20% I can use it, right?
There is no safe % in which you can alter a work and use it without permission."

"If I can't identify or find the copyright owner to a work to get permission, am I free to use it?
No, not any more than being unable to find a grocery store clerk lets you walk out without paying for your order."


"The Internet is the modern-day version of the wild frontier or the Old West -- no laws apply and it's every man for himself.
If you believe this, you couldn't be more wrong. While the Internet is a relatively new medium that has raised some novel legal issues, it is well-established that the laws governing copyrights and trademarks -- as well as other aspects of business and personal and commercial expression -- apply as much to the virtual world as they do to the "real" one. So, if you're going to publish a web page that contains anything other than entirely original content, that is, text that you wrote, photos you took or graphics you created yourself, you need to familiarize yourself with and abide by the copyright laws, among other things, or risk suffering the sometimes serious consequences if you don't."



http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/privacy-policy.html
Additional questions? Contact eBay If you have additional privacy related questions, you may send email to privacy@ebay.com.


http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS.html



(Message last edited Mar-23rd-03  12:30 AM.)

http://www.law.duke.edu/copyright/face/words/index.htm

"Must I register for copyright to be protected?
No, you do not have to register your copyright to have the protection of the copyright law. Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that is perceptible, either directly or through a device. Registration is completely voluntary. You must register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement."



"Should I register my work even though copyright protection is automatic?
Yes, you should. Registering your copyright gives you important protection, especially when infringement has occurred, that you would not get without registration. It proves that you created the work by a particular date. It might entitle you to statutory damages and attorney's fees in an infringement suit. It helps establish evidence that your work is entitled to copyright protection. Registration is relatively easy and inexpensive. Every author should register his or her work -- whether published or unpublished -- with the Copyright Office."



"How do I register for copyright?
To register a written work, send the appropriate completed registration form and a non-refundable filing fee of $20 ($30 after June 30, 1999) to: Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559. Only the Copyright Office can accept applications and issue registrations. Usually, you also must send two copies of the best edition of the work as a "deposit." The appropriate form contains simple directions to follow."

Thanks for printing the rules Kimberly. I think I know of at least one person who should read them.

Then again, there are some people who will do anything for a dollar or two. They usually also have a few very misguided defenders. 

Best thing to do is CHECK THE COMPLAINTS of anyone selling on eBay. Some people have literally thousands of sales with zero complaints. Others have as many as 30, 40 and rising.  Now who would you buy off?

Thank you for the wonderful post, Kimberly!  I disagree on one, tho.  If you find, say, a poem you want to reproduce in something you're writing but tried and tried and cannot find its source, I thought it was okay to go ahead and put "author unknown".  I see that all the time.  But I guess anyone could say that about any work then.  I guess to use "author unknown" you'd have to have pulled it from a source that says "author unknown" on the piece, and then cite that source.  That's my take on it, anyway.

I thought I would post them so that everyone would know
what their rights were -- I think the people who steal
from here aren't going to be discouraged any.

Thanks, Kimberly.  Interesting reading, especially the part about changing art about 20% to make it yours.  I used to work with an artist who did that liberally and I never agreed with her idea that you could change someone else's work and call it your own. 

I agree with that, Susan.  It just isn't right. 

If somebody stole my original work, and I'm too poor to seek legal redress, I'd call the IRS and tell them about this person.
You get 10% of any fines collected on people who cheat. That may be why a penalty may be waived if you find the error, never when someone else tells on you. Or so I read.

I believe that this does NOT apply to "public domain" works. Or why there is BIG MONEY behind the latest Supreme Court decision.
Disney may appropriate the Grimm Brother's tale of Cinderella, but anyone who tries this with Disney's work is up the creek w/o a paddle.
Even a parody, since this may devalue the work. (Imagine Cinderella as working in a brothel, etc.)

Good posts, Rays.  I didn't know you could rat on someone to the IRS for stealing a copyrighted work. 
Satirical works have some protection.  Like "Mad Magazine" or "Saturday Night Live" or people doing impressions for an act.  I'm not sure where they draw the line.  It seems like people who imitate a well-known voice for a commercial, where people think it's really the celebrity, get sued. 

I don't know about ratting to the IRS because somebody stole a copyrighted work, but I do know of a person who is known for stealing the work of others and who also once posted on another board that things sold on the Internet are tax-free.  That probably means the person doesn't report Internet sales to the IRS.  I seriously doubt that the IRS will go after the person on its own, because the money involved is small potatoes.  However, I do expect Big Brother to get a lot more interested in such things in the future.
eBay seems to fancy itself a large flea market in which small dealers set up folding tables and beach umbrellas and try to sell a few well-worn household items.  Yes, there are a few rules posted on faded signs here and there ("Don't urinate on the other dealer's stock.") but eBay tries to take no responsibility for much of anything.  Gazing into my very cloudy crystal ball, I foresee some big changes to come in eBay's status as an absentee landlord.

That's an interesting point.

I must admit, I am already sick of the dancing Jason-Alexander-Wanna-bee who does their commercials!

I'm sorry if I didn't express myself. The IRS has NOTHING to do w/ copyright violation. But I think that somebody who deliberately did this is also likely to cheat on taxes. So I'd do it.

Back in the late 1980s I read about a guy arrested for bombing & extortion (in NYC - he worked for stock brokerage). Years before he had a business partner, and he thought he was being cheated. So he broke up the partnership. Then reported his ex-partner to the IRS. They looked into this guy (they can see EVERYTHING!), and found that on a reported income of $25,000, he had spend $20,000 on charge cards!!! You know what happened next.

Remember that parody of "Gone w/ the Wind" being sued? A parody can devalue the copyright, like graffiti on a work of art.

MAD magazine was sued circa 1965 for its political cartoons. After being almost bankrupted, this small businesss had to sell out to a big corporation. You can look it up. Any TV performance must have their lawyers to check their work.
Remember Jack Benny's "Autolite" parody of "Gaslight"? That was censored on TV in the 1950s.