Copyright Information

[shutterflypro]

I just found this online and thought everyone might like to read it.

Did you know that there is a right--and a wrong--way to display a copyright message? Did you know that if you do not correctly format your copyright message the legal remedies available to you in a copyright-infringement case may be limited? If you didn't know either of these two facts, you need to read this article.

When browsing the Web, you're likely to see several different copyright messages on different web sites:

1. Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.
2. Copyright ABC Company.
3. © ABC Company.

The problem with the options shown above is that none of them are the correct way to format your copyright message. Here's what wrong with the message.

1. The organization/individual claiming the copyright is not mentioned.
2. The year the copyright was originally claimed is not mentioned nor is that fact that the organization/individual is reserving all rights to the copyrighted information.
3. Again, the year the copyright was originally claimed is not mentioned nor is the fact that the organization/individual is reserving all rights to the copyrighted information.

So, you may be asking yourself: “What is the correct way to format a copyright statement?” I’m glad you’ve asked.

If you web site is static and never updated, your copyright statement is fairly straight forward:

Copyright © [year copyright is claimed] [organization’s legal name or individual’s name]. All rights reserved. (Note: The © symbol is formed by using this HTML tag: ©)

For my organization, for example, my copyright statement would read like this:

Copyright © 2005 SavageIdeas. All rights reserved.

If the copyright was of a personal nature it would read like this:

Copyright © 2005 Zach Evans. All rights reserved.

Now, if your site is dynamic, or if you update the content on your static site in a year other than when you originally published it, you need to modify the statement a bit. You now need to show a date range in your copyright statement.

If, for example, you originally published your content in 2000, but have since updated the site every year since then, your statement would need to read:

Copyright © 2000 – 2005 [organization’s legal name or individual’s name]. All rights reserved.

Again, for a site that I have published, my copyright statement would read:

Copyright © 2000 – 2005 SavageIdeas. All rights reserved.

Or, if the content was of a personal nature, my copyright statement would read:

Copyright © 2000 – 2005 Zach Evans. All rights reserved.

Many developers hard-code these statements into their web sites, which is a perfectly acceptable solution, except for the fact that you now need to manually update the statement every year. “So why not update the statement programmatically?” you ask. Great question! Here’s how you can do it.

By using a simple ASP script and putting it in an include file, you would be able to dynamically update the copyright statement on your web site. Here’s the code:

Copyright © [year first copyright is claimed]
<%
If Year(Date) > [year first copyright is claimed] Then
Response.Write "- " & Year(Date)
End If
%>
 [organization’s legal name or individual’s name]. All rights reserved.

So, again using an example regarding my organization, here’s what the code would look like:

Copyright © 2000
<%
If Year(Date) > 2000 Then
Response.Write "- " & Year(Date)
End If
%>
 SavageIdeas. All rights reserved.

Many developers will link their organization’s name to the home page of their web site for SEO purposes and this is completely acceptable. You may also want to tag another statement that deals with your privacy policy or your site map after your copyright statement. Again, this is completely acceptable.

Now that you know the correct way to claim your copyright, happy coding! By the way, you can download an example of this source code by downloading the .zip file included along with this article.

Please note: I am not a lawyer, although I work with legal matters in my ‘day job’ almost every day. I have pieced together these recommendations based upon numerous conversations with a legal professional. If you have any questions regarding the validity of your copyrights, please contact a lawyer.

[Detonate]

As I always understood it, you do not have to ever state your copyright in order to have one. And the copyright is automatic upon any type of content creattion.

i.e. 2 people standing right next to each other take a picture of the same thing at the same time. Each instantly owns the copyright to their image, and you never have to state it.

[Digital Prophet]

It is true that an image, work of art, work of literature and I am sure other works do not require a copyright notice be present for there to be a claim to copyright. However any image that lacks this statement is open to what is called "innocent infringement".

According to Leonard Duboof (The Law in Plain English for Photogaphers) there are in fact three elements necesary for a valid copyright statement:

• "Copyright", "Copr." or the copyright symbol "©". No deviations.
• The year of publication, expressed as Arabic or Roman numberals or in words. Derivative works should state the first publication of the derivative and not the original. Also first publication date is required for some internation copyright protections.
• Business or personal name of entity claiming ownership

I believe that it was the 1909 Act that stated that "All Rights Reserved" be printed. In fact the 1909 stated that correct positioning of a copyright statement was essential. But since 1989 it was no longer a requirement that it be present at all let alon positioned exactly.

On the matter of innocent infringement it is true that any work should be treated as a copyrighted work unless specifically and in writing it is stated that the work has passed either by duration or action into the public domain Mr. Duboff makes a troubling comment (I do not know the actual likelieness of this, but it seems possible):

... if the innocent infringer has made a sizeable investment for future production, the court may compel the copyright owner to grant a license to such an infringer."

Sounds like another way to get screwed by the man.

Oh, one more thing. If you have a DBA don't list your copyrights under your business name. If you do be aware that if you sell out to a partner or an outside investors that the copyrights are transferred with the business name unless specifically stated otherwise.

Oh and no I am not a lawyer. But I watched TV with one.

- Digital Prophet -

[Outlaw]

I'll throw in the suggestion of registering your photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office for the following reason, quoted from Peter Krogh's web site (http://www.peterkrogh.com/copyright/main.html):

Although all work is copyrighted at the moment of creation, not all work is protected equally. If a registered work is later infringed, the creator can recover actual damages (the fee that would normally have been paid for the use), as well as Statutory (Punitive) Damages and legal fees. A work that is infringed and has not been registered, can only generate the Actual Damages. This means that, in most cases, the cost of the suit far exceeds the recoverable moneys.

Just about everything I ever needed to know about registering images for complete legal protection can be found at the above link.

I will be changing the copyright line on my web site and on my photos after reading shutterflypro and Digital Prophet's posts, though. Better safe than sorry.

[Buddha]

Here is an original source of information on copyright law. This is a portion of the copyright law itself. Paragraphs 408 and 411 should answer or verify answers to some of the questions on this page.
As for the paper using some photos out of a group, that might be considered 'fair use', which covered in here somewhere.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap4.html

[Buddha]

Here is a document from the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) that covers copyrights in a more understandable manner than the last poster left.

http://www.istep.com/photostop/Legal/asmp.txt

[Steelsun]

nice links.