How Internet copyright legislation affects you
Posted 19 February 2007 at 9:20AM by Alexa Williamson in Hints and tips
My post on open source software brings to mind the importance of copyright legislation and how it applies to material on the Internet.
With open source, for example, one is allowed to use the programs as long as the user doesn't try and amend the product, then claim it as their own with exclusive copyright.
What you need to know
Intellectual Property.gov.uk sums up UK Internet copyright law as: "material sent over the Internet or stored on web servers will generally be protected in the same way as material in other media", and that one must have the owner's permission to use it.
Therefore, any material that you own the copyright for and put on the Internet is protected from others using it without permission. And the reverse applies as well - if you come across something on the Internet, you cannot use it without observing the owner's copyright terms.
Ways to protect your copyright
- The classic method is sealing a copy of your work in an envelope and posting it to yourself. This gives you evidence that your work was created before a certain date
- Make it clear on the work itself who copyright belongs to - usually done by adding "Copyright © (date) by (author/owner)" to the material
There are also ways of making it difficult for people to copy your work:
- Articles and other text works can be converted to PDF before publication, and set to prevent copying
- Graphics can be given a watermark using a photo editor
- Word documents can be password-protected to prevent them being opened or changed
Further reading:
- Protecting Intellectual Copyright (Business Link)
- What is Copyright Protection
Tags: Internet copyright legislation, protect your copyright online
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