As we’ve learned lately some people wrongly assume that work which is available to the public, particularly on the internet, is “in the public domain” and therefore available to be reproduced any way anyone likes. This is not true: there are very particular laws regarding copyright, which we are all meant to follow; and it’s not always little organisations or new writers who make mistakes.
When Tom Barrett discovered that edsoft Interactive, an Australian educational software publisher, was using an information sheet called Interesting Ways To Use The iPad In The Classroom as a sales tool he was confused: he’d collaborated with several teachers on an information sheet with exactly the same title. It transpired that edsoft Interactive had not only slapped its own logo onto the information sheet, it had also removed the names of all of the people involved in its creation.
It seems as though this episode has been resolved reasonably well, with Andrew Bennetto, the Managing Director of edsoft Interactive apologising to Mr Barrett and explaining where things had gone so wrong: but it makes me wonder how frequently such copyright infringements occur. I don’t expect everyone to have a full understanding of the copyright laws: but I would expect writers and publishers, who have a professional interest in such matters,would do their best to ensure that they didn’t infringe on the works of others. Sadly, this is not always the case.
YouWriteOn is an internet site for writers but despite that, the people behind YouWriteOn have shown a scant regard for writers’ rights by copying whole articles from the national presses onto its message-board and providing little in the way of attribution. Here’s an obituary for Dame Muriel Spark which apparently came “from the BBC News Site”; here’s what looks like a press release about Sean Connery which is entirely unattributed; here’s an article about a new writer’s book deal, with the attribution “source: Associated Press”; here’s a whole forum page of barely-attributed stories which appear to have been copied wholesale from the internet; and there are plenty more on that discussion forum if you’re interested in finding any more. There do seem to be fewer examples of this sort of copyright infringement on the YouWriteOn website in recent months so I assume that YouWriteOn might have had its knuckles rapped (although if that is the case I wonder why YouWriteOn’s management hasn’t taken pains to edit its earlier transgressing posts). I could perhaps understand such wanton disregard for the laws of copyright from people who weren’t involved in creative endeavours; but when a writers’ site infringes the copyright of other writers something is extraordinarily wrong. Although bearing in mind YouWriteOn’s vanity publishing scheme which I blogged about a couple of years ago, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.
Such transgressions do seem to be more common among amateur and new writers: but it’s not only writers who hold the copyright to their works: creative types of all kinds are meant to be protected by the laws of copyright, including photographers. And if we disregard these laws we could get into serious trouble–but not always in the ways you’d imagine.
Last December, a blogger (I can’t find his name anywhere on his website: anyone?) spotted that a picture of a beach in Berneray, in the Outer Hebrides, was being used to advertise a beach on Kai Bae in Thailand. His mention of Berneray set off a Google alert which went to blogger and photographer John Kirriemuir, of Berneray; and he thought that the photograph looked strangely familiar. He did a bit of searching and realised that it was bound to look familiar to him, as he had taken the photograph some years before and put it onto the internet.
And then, the story got even more convoluted. In the comments to Mr Kirriemuir’s post, a photographer called John Burch mentioned how his similar experience had got him into a lot of trouble. He had found eight of his photos on the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s website, where they were apparently used without his knowledge or permission; to add to his ire the Tourism Authority of Thailand had put its own copyright notice on the photographs. After sending them several emails which remained unanswered, Mr Burch sent the Tourism Authority an invoice for its unauthorised use of his work and received this somewhat startling response:
Dear Mr. Robert Burch,
I am Mr. Payoonsak Rattanamas, representative of former Tourism Authority of Thailand Director, Southern region 4. I will explain you about the pictures that we brought from your website to show 2 photos.
From our understood the festival for vegetarian in Phuket organize by TAT and Phuket Province then all picture from this event we can use for non-profit organization like us and if you want to take photos from this event to make your business you should ask permission from us and very funny when you use advantage from the event that we created and paid all expenses and you ask too much money from 2 photos like over 10,000 pounds.(you should advise your stupid wife, your stupid friends or some people you close they will told you why you do stupid work like this)
Please confirm your your desire direct to me who handle this case we will consideration your asking and if you confirmed the same from beginning we may have to black list your name for immigration division and Thai Embassy to protect people like you to come to Thailand to take advantage from Thailand Government again.
Payoonsak Ratanamas
Authorize Representative
Mr Burch paid a Thai solicitor $500 for advice, and was told he had little-to-no chance of getting anything for his troubles. He was never paid for the Tourism Authority’s unauthorised use of his work, and he later discovered that his name had been added to a list of journalists which the Tourism Authority of Thailand refuses to deal with.
So, how can we as writers ensure that we don’t intrude on anyone else’s copyrights?
- We have to write our own stuff and not rely on other writers’ efforts to bolster our own.
- We have to understand what copyright means, and when it is established in a piece of work.
- It helps if we understand the difference between copyright and copywrite.
- And if we understand the difference between copyright and publishing rights.
- We must all follow the advice of The Society Of Authors and get permission for every single quote we use.
- Remember that owning a physical thing doesn’t mean we own the copyright to it.
- And when we sell our work we must ensure that we know exactly which rights we’re disposing of, and which we retain: otherwise we might find ourselves inadvertently infringing the copyright on that piece if we publish it elsewhere.
;
If you’ve blogged in support of copyright, do please leave a link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll edit your links into this article over the next few days. Thanks for your help with this.
:
- Sally Zigmond has written a beautiful blog post called Dont Just COPY; Get It RIGHT in which she links to a very useful speech about copyright in the digital age.
- Nicola Morgan has written a fabulous guide to copyright with only the barest hint of crabbitude.
- Sarah Callejo has pointed out how confusing copyright laws can be, and how much conflicting information there is on the internet.
- Catdownunder has written an elegantly understated post about her own experience with copyright-wrangling, which reveals how upsetting things can be when they go wrong.
- Last year Sarah Hilary talked passionately about originality and inspiration, and revealed how some of my favourite writers have inspired her.
- Dan Holloway makes a song and dance about copyright.
- At the State Of Independents (a blog from and independent bookseller and publisher in Edinburgh) there’s a great and concise post which outlines what copyright means, and how writers should observe the laws concerned.
- Photographer Melabee M Miller shows us her lovely T-shirt and gives me far too much credit.
- Chloe Yelena Miller considers copyright.
- Sally Quillford has posted a very useful article she wrote for Writers’ Forum magazine in which she discusses copyright infringement, plagiarism, and how to avoid them both; and she links to an excellent article which appeared in the Guardian, in which Blake Morrison discusses the cost of obtaining permission to quote from songs. In case you’re wondering, quoting a line or two from one of The Beatles songs can work out VERY expensive.
- The Copyright Alliance has published a very sobering piece by Brenna Lyons in which she writes about the cost of copyright theft.
- Photographer Diane Macdonald has written a brilliant and subtle blog post about copyright infringement. I’d like to see anyone argue against it.
- Over at The Profitable Publisher, Marion Gropen has written a fabulous post called Common Myths About Copyright.
- Sarah Duncan has pointed out that when people infringe on copyright, writers don’t get paid. It’s that simple.
- A strong post about copyright from E G Hamlin.
- Nick Cross blogs about copyright here.
- Alex Gazzola, who blogs at Mistakes Writers Make (And How To Put Them Right) has added this extensive post about copyright to his website.
- Mark Monlux has drawn copyright cartoons!
- Nadia Damon points out how distressing copyright infringement can be, and urges us all to be constructive rather than angry. She makes an excellent point.
- Top Notch Productionz discusses the complications of copyright in music.
- Christina Tugeau discusses how her illustrations were considered to be “in the public domain” because they’d been featured in her local paper. Um: no!
- Writer Stacia Kane has contributed to our copyright day too, with this brilliantly insightful comment about how copyright theft stops writers getting new contracts. She’s right on the button.
- A useful article about Canadian copyright laws here from Ryan Fitzgerald.
- Portrait photographer Cindy has posted a very clear article about copyright in images (and while you’re looking at her website check out her beautiful portraits of newborn babies: they are just delicious!).
- Ed Hamlin points out that it is not ok to steal. A simple message, nicely delivered.
- Photographer Jeremy Nicholl has a good few posts about copyright infringement on his blog, and his photographs are compelling.
I have blogged about this “I want to tell you a story…” at . I have tried to explain about something you cannot copyright because it is written with the actual intention that it should be used by other people but how what you write about it is copyright. If it sounds confusing – it is. It is also important.
Sorry Jane – the link won’t come out – just click on my name. Cat
[...] is a post for the lovely Jane Smith’s Copyright Day (she writes How Publishing Really Works, but I’m sure you know that [...]
As a poet and college writing teacher, thank you for this conversation.
Two years ago I was dubbed as a Copyright Copper (Copyright Police) after an incident when I pointed out to a group that copying patterns for a swap which was going to take place in a public place wasn’t a good idea, and the following articles were written to try to get the message across that breaching copyright law can lead to consequences most of us cannot afford.
http://virtualquilter.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/copyright-copper/
talks about copyright
http://virtualquilter.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/copyright-copper-spins-a-yarn/
about a designer who bit back
http://virtualquilter.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/the-copyright-copper-files/
about who the real copyright police are.
I would like to add links to this and maybe other items of yours onmy page of links to copyright information and stories.
Judy B
A timely and excellent post, thanks, Jane. I blogged about this a while ago:
http://sarah-crawl-space.blogspot.com/2009/07/originality-in-writing.html
I think one of the worse side-effects from the whole plagiarism and copyright issue is the heightened threat level felt by writers and artists, which can lead to a mistrust of fellow writers and artists, and prevent meaningful collaborations or get in the way of good support structures.
Mmm. Pictures are a fascinating and even more complicated area of law, aren’t they (may I plug my contribution to copyright blog day as it’s also on a confusing issue – fair use and song lyrics – http://agnieszkasshoes.blogspot.com/2010/11/lyrical-copyright.html)?
Part of this is because there are more issues at stake than copyright. I don’t know the law with regard to the Thailand case above. All I can do is cite an analogy – if you were to take a photo at an exhibition and post it on line, the exhibitor – depending on the small print of the expo rules, which I don’t think you’d have had to have read for them to be enforceable – would be perfectly entitled to ask you to remove them. In some cases if they decided not to, they would be entitled to use them. I confess that I had to read the paragraphs above twice to work out who I was meant to think was in the wrong – it seems the photographer took pictures he possibly should not have taken; and then the *wronged party* used them in a way they possibly shouldn’t have.
And then, of course, there’s the issue with pictures that have faces in them which is a WHOLE other ball game where national laws differ, and there is so much more than copyright involved. Anyone who posts a picture of a recognisable face online without having express consent of the person whose face it is – all I can say if they then go on to moan that their copyright is infringed if the photo is lifted is just don’t go there.
Which is one of the points I was raising in previous comments about Griggs’ e-mail and fair use. My understanding was that fair use was part of copyright law, but yours and Sally’s answers mentioned that it extended to the 1998 data protection act – as these two laws cause so much of a minefield where they overlap, it would be very useful to have an explanation of the circumstances when private written words can be reproduced in the public domain for fair use.
There is no excuse for an author not learning about copyright, and I hope the various posts today will provide a good basic education – but not an exhaustive one – Nicola’s post has links to some great legal books on the subject.
gaahh! The bracket isn’t part of the url
http://agnieszkasshoes.blogspot.com/2010/11/lyrical-copyright.html
Yees…I wandered onto the GUD forum a little while ago, and discovered people happily posting their favourite poems, many of which were in copyright. Mea culpa for not keeping a closer eye on things; I had to close the thread and delete a stack of posts, sharpish. Yet it had all started innocently enough, with definite public domain material accompanied by appropriate attribution.
Thanks, all, for your links and comments. I’ve rounded up a few more links and I’ll add them all to my original post which should help us all attract a little more attention to our conversation.
And guess what? I’ve just found several of my blog posts plagiarised on someone else’s blog! No response to my email yet, but if those posts aren’t deleted as soon as possible I will write all about it here.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sally Quilford and Jane Smith, Sarah Siddons. Sarah Siddons said: Writers’ Rights: Right? http://bit.ly/ceBT9c via @AddToAny [...]
Thanks Jane, excellent as I’d expected.
I was checking those links you’ve given at the end and I’ve got a doubt about the “authors that have died 70 years ago”.
If I want to quote a piece written by an 18th century author, I don’t have to ask permission to use it? Because surely publishers re-publishing their works will have some sort of right on them, don’t they?
I’m not sure my question was very clear.
Forgot to say in my post that I did some work experience at a science publisher, and part of my job was finding the correct sources for figures. It was a *nightmare*, because none – none – of the authors (who were mostly professors!) had bothered to attribute properly. It once took me 3 hours to find a source, sigh. So, I am quite sympathetic to the difficulties. But at the same time, obviously, everyone needs to Know Their Stuff, copyright-wise.
I’m a newborn and child photographer and I’ve had this page on my blog for some time:
http://reflectionsbycindy.com/blog/copyrights-what-it-means/
Today I blogged it so it’s up and front:
http://reflectionsbycindy.com/blog/2010/11/uncategorized/copyright-day-utah-photographer/
As with other creative arts, there is a lot of misinterpretation about photography copyrights. While some people are genuinely ignorant about it, I think most prefer to flaunt ignorance to their advantage.
I think public education is a first step towards awareness and knowledge for everyone.
Thanks for flagging this up! A few years ago I interviewed an actor for an online magazine – a few weeks later, my interview appeared, almost unchanged, in a feature by a Northern Newspaper. My journalist friend spotted it, I complained and lo and behold, the newspaper had to send me a cheque in payment.
I was lucky that the newspaper was reputable and recognised the error by a junior reporter.
But most peopel who are plagiarised must find it very hard to get recompense.
@ Bookshop Becky:
Yes, working with academics I can imagine. I would have thought that peer review *should* pick that up in any academic piece and refer it back to the authors for correction rather than dumping the work on the publisher. Then again, as peer review is from other academics….
I’m a bit late, but here’s my contribution to this fantastic debate, Jane. You make some great points and I’m looking forward to reading what everyone else has to say.
http://sallyquilfordblog.co.uk/2010/11/copyright-day-copy-writing.html
(as I say just before my article, I do know the difference between copyrighting and copywriting. It was just a play on words on my part when I wrote the article, which I now realise may actually confuse the issue… ahem)
Thanks, Jane, for encouraging this conversation.
Author Brenna Lyons talks about copyright and infringement on the Copyright Alliance blog today:
http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2010/11/i-don%e2%80%99t-own-a-yacht/
In response to Dan’s post about using song lyrics (I’ve posted this on Dan’s blog too) there’s an enlightening article by Blake Morrison on the cost of using song lyrics that you might want to add to your link collection, Jane.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/01/blake-morrison-lyrics-copyright
@ Dan Holloway:
Also astonishing that they left it to me, the work experience person, no? I don’t think anyone ever checked my work. Shows how much importance they placed on copyright; crazy when you consider someone might sue.
Thanks Jane for taking the initiative to do this, and thanks to Lucinda at the Copyright Alliance for bringing it to my attention! I hope that one day the theft of copyright work will be treated in the same way as any other kind of theft. Stealing is stealing!
My blog post is here:
http://www.dianemacdonaldphoto.com/?p=704
U.S. corporate culture is such that many folks don’t understand copyright. As a secretary, receptionist and web designer in various jobs we had to explain copyright law incessantly.
On the other hand the same person who doesn’t understand copyright will bend in fear of any whackjob with a US trademark claim. People with only a slightly relevant trademark will us it to get free goods and services from other companies. Most companies will bend as soon as a C&D shows up with question when 9/10 times its a baseless claim.
Thank you for running this blog.
I’ve blogged about this issue back in July. I reposted the article today.
http://azurelaroux.blogspot.com/2010/07/copyright-what-does-it-mean.html
I consider copying others work without permission or payment to be the same crime as walking into a store and shoplifting. While I do feel very strongly about the issue I have tried to keep my article to the facts.
I didn’t see any posts about Canadian copyright, so I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring: http://malignantcarp.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/copyright-day-canadian-edition/
Cheers.
[...] Works. She suggested to the blogging community that we try to turn this fiasco back around and into something positive/educational. Until I read an article about Canadian Bill C-32, I had no intention of partaking as I felt I [...]
Big thanks for what you’re doing here today – I felt compelled to add my own comments on the issue from the perspective of being a fiction writer who also works in IT: http://www.whoatemybrain.com/2010/11/copyright-awareness-day.html
I have published a paper I wrote for my Master’s program. It is an analysis of a copyright case. You can access it here:
http://topnotchproductionz.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-about-copyright-day-write-rights_19.html
Thanks!…
–
Marcus “Da Fingaz” Manderson
President, Top Notch Productionz
I’ve blogged on Copyright, with links to here and Nicola Morgan’s piece, it’ll be on http://sarahduncansblog.blogspot.com/ first thing on the 20th November.
Good for you for highlighting this issue. It’s complicated, but also simple – Assume everything is copyright and someone along the line needs paying for it.
@ Bookshop Becky:
yes, given how jumpy universities are about their academic reputation you’d think they’d be right on top of it.
Excellent post and a great set of links, thanks Jane. I’ve linked here on my blog.
@ Sarah Callejo:
Yes, you do have to get permission for the use of older works IF the spelling and grammar have been updated, OR you’re looking at a translation OR some other sort of editorial work has been done.
The publishers also have rights to their own designs for the text and cover/jacket, and any new material added.
HTH
I’ll toss my hat in the ring with a post on my Top Ten Myths about Copyright.
It’s here: http://gropenassoc.com/blog/2010/11/common-myths-about-copyright/
Thanks for doing this, Jane!
Mine is up, and it’s about how believing copyright shouldn’t exist and art should be free is actually the most un-rebellious, entitled, self-serving attitude there is.
http://wp.me/pxFLT-t7
Belatedly heard about this worthy initiative very late today, but I’m delighted to participate. I’ve expanded the Copyright page on my blog, and included an extract of an article I wrote several years ago for a writing magazine, to help advise writers confused by the contracts sent to them by magazines and newspapers following a commission or the acceptance of an article. It covers copyright, licensing terms and syndication. You can find it under Know your contracts on my copyright page here: http://mistakeswritersmake.blogspot.com/p/copyright.html
[...] Writers’ Rights: Right? [...]
Copyright needs to be taught in the school system several times a year and should be on exit exams too. I put up a short article about copyright.
http://eghamlin.com/Blog/2010/11/19/internet-theft-growing-concern-for-creatives/
@ Marion Gropen: Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you very much.
There are more posts on copyright abuse than I’d like at my blog. Here are just three:
Agence France Press steal Haitian photographer’s earthquake images then threaten to sue him when he fights back. This one is currently going through a NY court & could end up costing a lot of money.
UK political parties indulge in some spectacular copyright theft that blows up in their faces. This post was quoted in parliament during the DEB debate during which the Orphan Works clause was withdrawn.
Young UK photographer successfully sues US porn outfit that stole her schoolgirl self-portrait.
There’s lots more if you search “copyright” on the blog.
Hi Jane,
)
I blogged on this issue yesterday too – much from a writer’s point of view.
You’ll find it at:
http://threechaptersandasynopsis.blogspot.com/2010/11/copyright-day.html
Best regards,
Nadia
Thanks, all, for your fabulous blog posts and discussions about this: I’ve had a great time reading all your posts and commenting on as many as I could. I think I’ve linked to all of your posts now in my post above: but if I’ve missed you off my list do please let me know and I’ll get you right in there.
Don’t forget to explore all those links, everyone: there’s remarkably little duplication and a lot of personal stories. I’m so glad we all did this!
Congrats on generating so many blog posts about copyright! We tried to do our part. You have a link to our post with author Brenna Lyons, thanks for that. My colleague Lucinda also informed our grassroots network of your call, and several of them chimed in. Well done!
Best,
Patrick Ross, Copyright Alliance
I am so enjoying reading everyone’s posts on this issue. I think this should be a yearly (or maybe quarterly) thing! The public needs educating, but we have to get to them somehow!
As well as the post I did on November 19th, I created this short one back in February when my blog was just getting started. I didn’t think to provide a link to it on Friday, but here it is now. I called that post “The Parable of the Sidewalk Sale.”
http://www.dianemacdonaldphoto.com/?p=48
I’m not sure who’s responsible but I’ve noticed recently that you can’t gain access to Limewire. This is good news. I’ve been complaining about it for years becausse of their practice of just offering up copyrighted songs to anyone who just happens to drop by.
It was absurd. How much in publishing royalites has been lost to this kind of practice.
Nevertheless, we’re making progress. Kudos to whoever put this forward to the proper authorities.
If you go to the official Limewire website, you see this message posted:
ATTENTION
LimeWire is under a court order dated October 26, 2010 to stop distributing the LimeWire software. A copy of the injunction can be found here. LimeWire LLC, its directors and officers, are taking all steps to comply with the injunction. We have very recently become aware of unauthorized applications on the internet purporting to use the LimeWire name. We demand that all persons using the LimeWire software, name, or trademark in order to upload or download copyrighted works in any manner cease and desist from doing so. We further remind you that the unauthorized uploading and downloading of copyrighted works is illegal.
Right! These jackarses have been offering free downloads for years. I hope they get what’s coming…
[...] have been some major copyright issues recently. There are a couple of good articles talking about it from How Writing Really Works. « [...]