by Edie Melson @EdieMelson
Lately, I’ve
seen a lot of discussion about copyright issues. Specifically, what is legal to
use on a blog, social media or in a book.
First,
I want to state right up front that I am NOT a lawyer and none of what I’ve
said constitutes any kind of legal advice. All I’m trying to do is share what I've learned about how to be responsible online.
That
said, at the end of this post I’m going to give you some links to the places
where I found my information so you can go check out the specifics for
yourself.
Copyright
Myths—How Familiar are you with the Law?
1.
I can legally post any picture on my blog if I link back
to the place I got it. This isn’t even remotely true. Photos, sketches, graphics, any
kind—are covered by the same copyright law as our written words.
Unfortunately,
there is lots of sharing going on over the Internet and it’s not
legal. When we borrow photos (and quote songs) without permission, even when we acknowledge where
we got it, we are stealing. I truly believe that’s not the intent, but we need
to educate ourselves on what’s right and what’s not and then lead by
example.
2.
I cannot legally use a song’s title in a post, article
or book. Song titles are the ONLY
part of a song we may use legally. There is something in the copyright law
called fair use. Without boring you by quoting the law, it means
that you can refer to part of a work without being sued. Contrary to what some
think, there is no set number of words or percentage that makes up fair
use. Instead, there are four factors used to define it.
- The purpose and character of your use.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- What amount and proportion of the whole work was taken.
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
- Because of the small size of a song, say compared to a book, the courts have decided that quoting ANY portion of a song, except the title is a copyright infringement. The reason you can quote a title? Titles cannot be copyrighted.
3. I can legally use someone’s blog post as long as I give them
credit and don’t change anything. You cannot
legally borrow someone’s blog post without their permission, even if you give
them credit or link back to it. Now, there are some sites that post guidelines
for you to follow to be able to use their posts. But this doesn’t mean it’s
legal to do so for another site.
4. I can legally use music or a song as background for an original
video as long as I credit the source. I imagine many of you got this one correct. There has been so much
written and so many fines leveed in regard to stolen music, it’s almost common
knowledge that you cannot borrow a song or music for your own purposes.
5. I can’t legally post YouTube videos on my blog or website. This one was a little tricky. You can legally post YouTube videos on
your site, because what you’re doing is linking, not reposting. Even when you
embed videos, they are still linked to YouTube.
6. If I don’t make money off of it, it’s legal for me to use. Whether you profit from borrowing someone else’s work has no bearing
on the legality.
7.
I can legally quote a small percentage of the words to a
song in a post, article or book. We
are all used to being able to quote passages from books and not get into any
kind of copyright infringement. I am here to tell you, that is NOT the case
with a song. The only part of a song you may quote is the title.
If
you’ve seen songs quoted in published books either someone paid a use fee or
the author wrote the song himself. I’ve known of two authors who self-published
books and had to pull the books because of songs quoted without permission.
8.
If I don’t have a copyright symbol on my
work it’s not covered by copyright law. Copyright
symbols are visual REMINDERS that what you’re reading belongs to someone. Just
because there isn’t one doesn’t affect the status of what you see in print or
online. If someone wrote it, it’s copyrighted.
SPECIAL
NOTE: You do not have to apply for a copyright for your work...EVER. You can register
your copyright, but it’s expensive and cumbersome to do. And it’s rarely
necessary.
9. Fair Use means I can quote 200 words of a work without getting into
copyright infringement. Not true. There is no definitive number of words
that can be used under the fair use portion of the copyright law. The law is
written vaguely on purpose, because the infringement depends on so many things,
including but not limited to, the length of the original work and the portion
of the passage quoted.
10.
I can legally pin anything to one of my Pinterest Boards. I don’t know about you, but I
LOVE Pinterest! I guess I’m just a visual kind of girl. But there are a lot of
folks getting into trouble on Pinterest right now. We have to follow ALL the
copyright rules when we’re pinning, just like when we’re posting on our blogs.
And, if you violate a copyright with one of your Pinterest boards you, and you
ONLY, are liable for any fines or charges. You agreed to this when you opened
your Pinterest account and accepted their terms of use. If you want to read
them again, here is the direct link: http://pinterest.com/about/terms/
But
there is one slight loophole. If someone or some business has a Pinterest
button on their website, you can assume they want their stuff to be pinned and
you should be okay.
11. I can legally post a picture
of a book cover I recommend or am reviewing. This is an
instance of Fair Use. As long as you’re not saying the book in
question is written by you (if it’s not) you can legally post a review and use
the cover.
12. Copyright on written
works expires 70 years after it was first published. A lot of folks
have heard that copyrights expire after 70 years. In some cases that’s
true...but not all. There are some instances when copyright expires 70 years
after the author/creators death. There are also times when copyrights are
renewed. Beyond that, there are other exceptions, so while the 70 year rule is
a good place to start—it’s not the place to end.
I have an
opinion about all the borrowing that is happening around the Internet. I may be
an optimist, but this is my personal opinion.
I think a lot
of bloggers are generous folks...to a fault. They frequently offer their own
work to others for free. With this mindset as a foundation, it doesn’t always
occur to them to think of what they’re doing as stealing—they don’t see other’s
borrowing as stealing, after all.
That said, I applaud
the generosity with our own work. But, we should also be willing to guard the
uniqueness and value of the work of others.
Now
it’s your turn, feel free to use the comments section to let me clarify any
thing that wasn’t clear or anything I didn’t cover.
Don’t
forget to join the Conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
TWEETABLES
Resources
(thought I’d
forgotten, didn’t you!)
Good explanations of copyright
Public Domain Info
YouTube Info:
http://www.youtube.com/t/copyright_education
Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the Director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Look for her newest book, While My Soldier Serves (Worthy Inspired), available at bookstores and online.
I wanted to use a painting on my book cover, but couldn't find the name of the artist. I even asked an attorney what I should do. So I used a very small part of it. It's the complete painting of Mary washing Jesus fee. I just used the foot and hand. Do you have information on what constitutes Fair Use of paintings?
ReplyDeleteMake that "feet"
ReplyDelete