Copyright is the legal ownership rights for any creative work such as articles, novels, short stories poems, music compositions, movies, paintings, etc.
If anyone even scribbles on a piece of paper, that automatically gets protected by copyright laws, giving sole ownership to the person who created it (or to the person or company for whom he is working). Any literary or artistic work cannot be used or copied without permission of its legal owner.
One does not have to get the work registered or put any copyright statement for asserting ownership.
With the rise of the Internet, copyright infringements have become rampant. It’s not just downloading copyrighted movies from torrents that makes you a pirate.
The Web is full of websites that scrape content (text, images, videos, design) from websites and pass it on as its own. Several newspapers and magazines unabashedly copy articles published on the Web, without giving due credit or compensation to its creator.
You cannot take a photograph from someone’s social media profile and publish it on your website, graphic or video. Not even when you put a credit next to it.
Sometimes people don’t even realize that they are trespassing someone else’s property and using it illegally. For example, a student copying someone else’s project work available on the Internet and submitting it as his class project.
What is Copyright?
Copyright is the legal right that gives the person who created something like a book, song, photo, illustration, painting, movie, or software its ownership and the power to determine how it’s used, shared, or shown.
If someone wants to use it, they have to get the copyright owner’s permission first or they could get in trouble. The copyright laws helps people who create things make money and keep control over their work. It lasts for a while, depending on the kind of work and where you live.
Who owns the right to work created by artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT? The copyright of any work created with help of AI is not yet established with certainty. AI bots are trained using works of others. The legal aspect for reuse of such content derived from the intellectual property of others is unclear.
Facts About Copyright
- Copyright laws automatically protect any literary or artistic work, without the need for the author or owner to take additional steps to secure that protection.
- A copyright symbol or notice is not necessary, as the work is protected even without one.
- In general, all text and images found on the Internet are copyrighted and cannot be downloaded, saved, or used without explicit permission from the owner, unless stated otherwise.
- While ideas are not protected by copyright, their expression in written or graphical form is. Merely rephrasing a novel or article does not constitute the creation of an original work.
- Copyright laws do allow for “fair use,” which permits the use of verbatim excerpts from written works, as long as proper credit is given to the original author or work. For example, quoting an author is considered fair use. However, copying large portions of a novel and claiming fair use is not permissible.
How not to Breach Copyright?
The thumb rule for not violating copyright is : Do not copy. Simple!
If you cannot make sure if the work is copyrighted or not, just steer clear of it. Or, make use of the “fair use” clause with proper attributions.
Nowadays, several works are licensed under alternative licenses. Sometimes people may renounce all rights to any piece of work and place it in public domain.
For example, all works (with certain exceptions) of US federal government are copyright-free. One can use such works, but should not claim ownership.
Creative Commons (CC) license is one of the most popular alternative license on the Internet. All works under Creative Commons license need to be attributed and meet the specific conditions of the license type.
For example, one might have placed the work under a license where anyone can use it by providing an attribution link and not using it for commercial purposes. Before using such works, read and understand the license.
Downloading mainstream movies, clips and music from torrents is illegal. Do not use torrents for downloading books or software as well. Many movie companies are becoming proactive and fighting back piracy with legal action. If you download movies or music in countries such as the US, you might get a legal notice from its owners. And the consequences can be harrowing.