Intellectual Property Law

Copyright Primer and Tips for Authors

By Brian Wm. Higgin

     Below are three interesting and useful blog posts and websites dealing with copyright issues.

• Primer on Copyright Liability and Fair Use by Citizen Media Law Project

     This blog provides legal primers on a variety of legal subjects, including the linked primer that provides an in-depth summary of United States copyright, fair use, and Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) issues. The primer concludes with some helpful hints concerning the oft-misunderstood fair use exceptions, and what individuals can do to minimize their risk of copyright liability:

"Use only as much of the copyrighted work as is necessary to accomplish your purpose or convey your message;

"Use the work in such a way that it is clear that your purpose is commentary, news reporting, or criticism;

"Add something new or beneficial (don't just copy it -- improve it!);

"If your source is nonfiction, limit your copying to the facts and data; and

"Seek out Creative Commons or other freely licensed works when such substitutions can be made and respect the attribution requests in those works."

• Collectanea by the University of Maryland University College

     Pronounced kol-ek-tey-nee-uh, this blog is published by Georgia Harper, a scholar at UMUC's Center for Intellectual Property (CIP).  In it, Harper collects and discusses current copyright issues. Her latest post, Turnitin wins important victory in fight to combat plagiarism (and the bloat of copyright), is an excellent analysis of AV v. iParadigms, No. 07-0293, slip op. (E.D. Va Mar. 11, 2008), which involves the website Turnitin.com, which Harper says is "an application that teachers can use to compare their students' papers with Turnitin's database of previously compared papers and papers available from other sources to detect instances of suspicious similarity."

• Keep Your Copyrights by Columbia University

     This creative website, which is written by legal academics at Columbia Law School, is designed for authors and creators of works in the United States. It aims to provide individuals with information to help them retain their copyrights, or, in case they decide to license their rights to others, with information concerning how to obtain reasonable terms under that license. The website provides sample contracts for literary authors, photographers, journal manuscript authors, and others, and also useful information about royalty statements in author contracts. The website warns that it is specifically not intended for lawyers or other legal academics, and it should not be considered legal advice.  

Full post as published by Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog on March 30, 2008 (boomark / email).