Often times when I'm conversing with friends about a topic something comes up where we are all trying to remember the name, person, place or year of when an event took place. We all are either snapping our fingers or spitting out the words, "it's on the tip of my tongue!" I have found myself responding with "Google it." Simple solution right? This has become my answer to almost everything. Nowadays, it is so simple to just go to a computer, laptop, or pick up my phone with internet capability to search for things. I admit I have paid little thought to internet copyright infringement laws. I mean, all I'm doing is looking up the answer to something. Why should I care where it comes from? Well, bottom line is I should care where my information is coming from. The internet has become an easy place to commit illegal acts such as copyright infringement. Many laws have been created because of filing sharing, copyright violations using images and information taken wrongfully from the internet. As an avid surfer of the internet I need to be sure I'm taking the appropriate steps to protect myself from possibly being slapped with a huge lawsuit by JohnDoe.com.
I decided to search the internet to find out what the huge stink was over copyright infringement and fair use on the internet. Of course I used my favorite internet search engine Google and googled away. I soon found the definition of copyright infringement on the ever so trustworthy website Wikipedia (because I know for a fact they follow copyright laws right? Oh, and everything they tell me has to be the truth). Wikipedia states copyright infringement (or copyright violations) is the following:
"The unauthorized or prohibited use of works covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works." (2010)
Okay, I can understand why the owner would be upset if I decided to use their work and call it my own. I would be upset too. But how do the courts determine copyright infringement has been committed? And what exactly is protected by copyrights on the World Wide Web?
In my search for answers I came across a website called Copyright Website. This glorious website seemed to be the key to what I was looking for. As I read the articles embedded in this website I found it interesting that pretty much everything on the internet can be copyrighted. The question is what things CAN'T be protected by copyright. Short phrases, blank forms, ideas, facts, titles and names can't be protected by copyright (http://www.benedict.com/, 2010). I found that a little scary. So, how can I determine what I'm downloading from the internet to my computer isn't infringing about copyright issues? Again using my trusty Google search engine I found something called "fair use."
"Fair use provisions of the copyright law allow for limited copying or distribution of published works without the author's permission in some cases. Examples of fair use of copyrighted materials include quotation of excerpts in a review or critique, or copying of a small part of work by a teacher or student to illustrate a lesson (www-sul.stanfordedu/copyright.html, 2010)."
If a possible copyright infringement case is presented to the courts they will determine if a crime has been committed by following the Law of Fair Use. An article I found on Stanford's website states The Law of Fair Use will determine the following:
- The purpose and nature of the use
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The nature and substantiality of the material used and
- The effect of use on the potential market for or value of work
Case in point, Kelley V. Arriba Soft Corp. Arriba Soft (now Ditto.com) operates much like Google but it's a visual search engine instead. The engine will search the web and store reduced size thumbnail images of pictures found. When the user searches for an artist it will get small thumbnail images of the artist's work. Such as Leslie Kelly, who noticed in January 1999 some 35 images on Arriba Soft's database. Kelly complained to Arriba who quickly removed the images and placed Kelly's work on a "do not crawl" list. However, shortly after, Kelly discovered more of his artwork on Arriba's website. He complained again and again Arriba removed the images. But Kelly wasn't satisfied with this. He sued Arriba for copyright infringement. Arriba shot back at Kelly's suit and stated they were not infringing on his artwork due to The Law of Fair Use. The court implemented the four elements in The Law of Fair Use and after carefully reviewing each element determined Arriba didn't infringe on Kelly's artwork.
The internet is full of so much information that it is hard to monitor everyone and everything that happens on the internet at any given time. However, after researching the severity of copyright infringement and The Law of Fair use I have learned it is my responsibility to be honest and abide by the rules. If I am going to use someone else's work on the internet I need to make sure I cite them appropriately. Not only is it against the law to steal someone's work it is immoral too. I would like to close with this little picture (which I borrowed from http://www.benedic.com/ resulting from the MGM v. Grokster case, I do not claim this image as my own which is why I will properly cite it at the end of this essay):
References
Copyright Case Book Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. (2010). Website Copyright. Retrieved June 19, 2010 from the World Wide Web. http://www.benedict.com/Digital/Internet/Arriba/Arriba.aspx.
Copyright Case Book MGM v. Grokster. (2010). Website Copyright. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from the World Wide Web. http://www.benedict.com/Digital/Internet/Grokster/Grokster.aspx
Copyright Infringement. (2010, June 18). Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 19, 2010 from the World Wide Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement
Copyright Law and Fair Use. (2002, December 19). Retrieved June 12, 2010 from the World Wide Web. http://www-sul.stanford.edu/cpyright.html
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