The ongoing debate to protect and look after online copyrights continues to have significant implications.
Copyright laws exist to further creativity and to encourage the distribution of new and original work. The word copyright literally means the right to copy.
It is a form of protection provided by the laws of the US to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works. Creators of original materials are signed over exclusive rights typically referred to as the creator’s copyrights.
Copyright registration is not mandatory but it does have important benefits. For example, acquiring a copyright makes sure that your property cannot be copied or stolen and once you obtain a copyright, you have a legal right to sue anyone for infringement.
Congress enacted the first federal copyright law in May 1790 and the first work was registered within two weeks. The Copyright Office registers half a million claims to copyright and records more than 11,000 documents containing hundreds of thousands of titles.
The copyright marking confirms who owns the copyright, the copyright date and the owner’s name. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.
Literature, including articles, novels, song lyrics and instrumental manuals, can be copyrighted as well as music, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, drama (which includes dance and mime) and computer software. Art, including articles, novels, song lyrics and instructional manuals, can also be copyrighted. Only the author can rightfully claim copyright.
Words, names, logos or designs, or a combination of these, cannot be copyrighted and ideas or inventions are covered by patents. It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright.
Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created and immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. The right to reproduce their works is one of the rights of the copyright holder. Any content in a non-digital form that is protected by copyright will be protected in a digital form.
What’s more, copyright law determines who owns the rights to distribute, sell and profit from a particular piece of original works. The laws are designed to protect the rights and financial ability of the creator of an original piece of work and are important for many reasons, such as fair use, protection and credit.
To register a work communicated online, the copyright owner should send the following three items together in the same envelope or package, (a properly completed and signed application form; appropriate deposit material and a nonrefundable filing fee for each application in the form of a check or money order payable to the Register of Copyrights), to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, S. E., Washington, DC 20559-6000.
Typically a person who has copyright protection in the United States will be protected in other countries as well. Organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which was created in 1967, guarantees the intellectual property rights in other countries. WIPO is the United Nations agency responsible for treaties involving copyright, patent and trademark laws.
Specifically, two treaties were concluded in 1996 at WIPO in Geneva. The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) deals with protection for authors of literary and artistic works; audiovisual works and works of fine art and photographs while the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) protects rights that are related to copyright.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of the copyright. Copyright owners are assured their works can be distributed without fear of unauthorized copying or piracy. And the copyright owner may obtain a court order to seek damages for loss of financial rewards or recognition.
The statements above are all vague and copyright stealing is more common than most of you know. Content can easily be crawled, grabbed and modified. Some companies specialize in using texts and modifying them in 1000+ ways. This can have serious implications on your business online:
Duplicate content gets filtered by the search engine. If someone knows what they are doing they can outrank you with their stolen content and take away visitors to your website. There is even a chance that you website gets completly thrown out of the index of the search engines (e.g. Google bowling).
Therefore it’s always recommended to use services like our Reputationobserver Online copyright protection service. Our technolgoy alllows it to not only crawl for your content, but also try to find modfied content.
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