Comments on: Intellectual Property Law Tips for Bloggers

By: Alger

Alger — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:45:32 +0000

This is an incredibly helpful post. I don’t think many bloggers think about the legal ramifications of what they publish because it’s incredibly easy to get a blog up and running – compared with say publishing a book or opening a storefront.

I’d love to see more legal articles on blogging on this site as I suspect this will be a hotbed issue in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to write this valuable article.

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:44:06 +0000

This is something I never even thought about, so thanks for the heads up. I think there’s probably several “newbie” bloggers out there, like me, who haven’t even thought about this stuff either. Is it OK to put an image on your blog that you got from Google Images? Sure hope so!

By: Infinitus76

Infinitus76 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:35:32 +0000

I’ve seen a lot of stuff copied from blog to blog, website to website over the years. References to where information came from is scarce in most of these cases. When I started my blog I decided to make sure that I used proper footnotes as if I were writing a term paper back in school.

This can be useful to whoever finds the blog interesting and wants to do further research on their own; or it could help for people who want to do some extra digging and find mistakes I may have made :)

By: Marvin

Marvin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:26:46 +0000

As a case in point, the act of this blogger, to me, looks totally irresponsible and I can only grimace in pain at the possible consequences of his actions, both on himself and the musical band Guns n Roses:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828/ap_en_ot/blogger_arrested

Being in the music industry myself, music copyright is as real a copyright as those discussed in this post.

Marvin

By: Katherine Tyrrell

Katherine Tyrrell — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:15:25 +0000

Useful post.

Other points I’d add are:
- if you quote from another source on the internet then it’s a really good idea to provide a hyperlink to it too. It’s really lazy not to and making the link also assures the author that your intentions are honourable.
- Given the international nature of copyright it’s probably worth mentioning that USA copyright and trademark law is slightly different from elsewhere. You may need to quote the year – but I don’t and the reason why is I live in the UK and operate under legislation which is derived from the Berne Convention.

I’ve developed a site with a lot of links to key sites providing information about copyright, intellectual property and orphan works in different countries – and if you want to know what orphan works are, try asking an artist, illustrator or photographer what they think about the orphan works bills!

By: Mel Menzies

Mel Menzies — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:11:53 +0000

I’m so glad to see this issue of copyright being addressed in a sensible way. Thank you, Darren!
My other job (the one that brings in the money while I’m writing books and giving the royalties away to charity!) is as a copyright manager for a large group of hymn and song writers. Yes! Even hymns are subject to copyright.
Churches can purchase a licence which covers them for all registered items sung during a Church service (NB not for a concert in church, nor for a Mum’s and Toddlers etc.). Schools are covered by a similar licence, both available from Church Copyright Licence Inc. Everyone else, including book publishers, has to apply for permissions – a licence assigning limited usage.
However, you wouldn’t believe what people think they can do online. We’ve had people alter texts written by our authors and displayed on our website, then claim copyright in them commercially. The royalties are often the only means of income available to the widows and beneficiaries of some of the great hymns like ‘Go forth and tell’ and – an oft abused Christmas carol – ‘See him lying on a bed of straw’. (These are all ‘ours’!)
Knowing all this, when I made my bereavement poem (included in my book A Painful Post Mortem) available on EzineArticles.com I appended a copyright notice, allowing free distribution (non-commercially) on condition that the bio details and copyright line were included. I want the poem to be a comfort to those who’ve lost loved ones, but I don’t want anyone altering it or cashing in on it. Pity not everyone can understand those sentiments. Hopefully, this article of yours will help. Mel Menzies

By: ABMama

ABMama — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:11:11 +0000

Very interesting. I’ve always know about copyright laws but never thought to apply them to blogging. I am new to blogging but plan to make money from it. Great advice, it’s always best to think ahead. Thanks!

By: Keral Patel

Keral Patel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:39:05 +0000

I totally agree with the things. I wrote a blog post about this last year http://www.keralpatel.com/useage-of-beautiful-pics-by-webmasters/

If someone wants to use pics in their blog posts then they can use the creative commonds search engine and search with proper licensing parameters that would allow one to use those pics.

By: Sergey

Sergey — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:34:42 +0000

ToughMoneyLove: I understand why it is a violation. I am mostly interested in possible legal consequences.

Sometimes authors allow you to skip the link to the license if you ask them in person.

By: ToughMoneyLove

ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:27:49 +0000

If you don’t link back to the license, who will know what the license terms are? That is key for both parties.

By: Sergey

Sergey — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:17:22 +0000

Long expected article, thank you. I have a question concerning the use of the Creative Commons License. The license requires the link back to the license text in addition to the link to the author. But many bloggers just put a link back to the author and miss mentioning the license.

How serious is the violation of the license if the link to the license text is not specified? Can this be a subject for the court proceeding? What could be the consequences (in terms of penalties) for the blogger?

Thank you.

By: John Hoff - eVentureBiz

John Hoff - eVentureBiz — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:13:17 +0000

It’s also wise to incorporate your business as well. In case you do screw up (and it’s not illegal), your personal assets will be somewhat insulated and protected.

By: Money and Minds

Money and Minds — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:12:22 +0000

Darren,

I always seek info on how to protect my web properties – your post answer most of the many question marks I have.

Thanks for the great post!

By: ToughMoneyLove

ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:49:50 +0000

Trisha – You need to consult an attorney well-versed in internet/IP law.

CCRussel – That lis a very good observation and question!

By: CCRussell

CCRussell — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:07:26 +0000

So, where are the copyright notices on THIS blog page? And the terms of use link isn’t very obvious?

By: Trisha

Trisha — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:29:21 +0000

ToughMoneyLove – so maybe it would be better then to use just my first name by the copyright notice instead of my domain? Or maybe both? I wonder would my DBA be ok?

What type of professional should we look for or what kind of qualifications should they have to help with a Terms of Service?

By: ToughMoneyLove

ToughMoneyLove — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:48:51 +0000

Regarding the Terms of Use, this is a more complex issue and depends in large part on the type of blog that you have. The privacy terms are probably the most important. Get some pro advice on this, particulary if you have youngsters on your site.

By: ToughMoneyLove

ToughMoneyLove — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:46:21 +0000

Ginger: Always use a copyright notice unless you have decided that everything on your site is public domain. Add the creative commons license reference it you want to invoke the terms of that license (which comes in different flavors).

Trisha: The copyright notice must identify you so that people can find you. A pseudonym is OK as long as it leads to some way to reach you.

By: KushMoney

KushMoney — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:15:43 +0000

WOW! This post has really opened my eyes. There is a lot I have to do. Thanks for the info.

By: Twanna /// FUNKY BROWN CHICK

Twanna /// FUNKY BROWN CHICK — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:48:58 +0000

Mark, I just shot you an email on your personal account. GREAT post!! IP law is and will continue to be a growing concern for the online community; I've already proposed a related SXSW panel idea.