Copyright Implications
Copyright Implications
IT/236
January 17, 2011
[pic]
A web designer or a novice needs to be very careful with copyright laws. The rules consist of five exclusive rights given to copyright owners under the Copyright Act. These laws are created and managed to prevent others from reproducing work or works created and owned by another person. No one can reproduce, publicly display the work, or distribute the work without the owner’s expressed permission. As a result, the web page author or authors need to be careful not to copy the work of others. This issue is so serious that the Internet service provider can be found liable for the copyright infringement even if they are not directly engaged in the copied materials, lawsuits will be implemented, and possible prison time can happen. Images If a web designer decides to obtain an image from the web and alter the image using a drawing or painting program, this will still infringe on the copyright laws. It is best to start from scratch and not alter another image from an original piece of work. Altering an image in this way is called derivative work. Taking an image from third parties is also taboo. Once the original image is fixed on a hard drive for the first time, it is protected by copyright laws. Any unauthorized copying of a protected image is an infringement of the creator’s copyright privilege. The originator can deem the image to be exempted through fair use, though. But unless the originator expresses this, it is not the case. Some licensed images, for example, the Internet Explorer logo may be copied, but the user must accept the terms of license first. In accepting the license, the user is excepting the terms within such license to use the image. The image will most likely not be able to be altered in any way. It can be copied as a link, only to a certain destination, but the web designer needs to be careful not to use it in a different way. He or she needs to
IT/236
January 17, 2011
[pic]
A web designer or a novice needs to be very careful with copyright laws. The rules consist of five exclusive rights given to copyright owners under the Copyright Act. These laws are created and managed to prevent others from reproducing work or works created and owned by another person. No one can reproduce, publicly display the work, or distribute the work without the owner’s expressed permission. As a result, the web page author or authors need to be careful not to copy the work of others. This issue is so serious that the Internet service provider can be found liable for the copyright infringement even if they are not directly engaged in the copied materials, lawsuits will be implemented, and possible prison time can happen. Images If a web designer decides to obtain an image from the web and alter the image using a drawing or painting program, this will still infringe on the copyright laws. It is best to start from scratch and not alter another image from an original piece of work. Altering an image in this way is called derivative work. Taking an image from third parties is also taboo. Once the original image is fixed on a hard drive for the first time, it is protected by copyright laws. Any unauthorized copying of a protected image is an infringement of the creator’s copyright privilege. The originator can deem the image to be exempted through fair use, though. But unless the originator expresses this, it is not the case. Some licensed images, for example, the Internet Explorer logo may be copied, but the user must accept the terms of license first. In accepting the license, the user is excepting the terms within such license to use the image. The image will most likely not be able to be altered in any way. It can be copied as a link, only to a certain destination, but the web designer needs to be careful not to use it in a different way. He or she needs to
References: (1996-2010). Web Site Legal Issues. Bit Law. Retrieved from http://www.bitlaw.com/internet/webpage.html (2001). Web Design That Won 't Get You Into Trouble. Computer Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun01/kennedy.htm