Internet Copyright Laws and What to Know

Hello, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams where vintage, collectibles, gently used, home decor, repurposed, and upcycled are passions of mine.

I am finally getting to my blog to share with you lovely visitors some more of things that I find, read, want to share, experience, have learned, and so on. This time I want to cover Copy Right Laws for the internet. This is something that is often discussed, mentioned, and that many people have issues with. I considered myself to be fortunate, and never noticed any problems. Then, one day with research on google, with my name of LilacsNDreams, and there is was. Some of my blog posts had been copied to someone on word press, and they were showing them. At first it was nice that someone wanted to share some of my writings, and then it hit me how I felt violated. I tried to contact the person with this, to talk with them, and to further pursue this issue. Everything I tried to do with their contact I hit dead ends with it. So, I then went into a little research on the internet for this kind of issue with Copy Right Laws, what they are, what you need to do, are you covered, and is it something you have to pay for?

A correct form of copyright notice is "Copyright or ©, Date, by Author/Owner". Everything from April 1, 1989 is copyrighted by owner/author whether it has a notice, or not. All internet users must assume work is copyrighted, unless other wise specified by the author. "I grant this to the public domain" Anybody can copy, take, or use without giving credit to the owner IF this has been announced. A user can also contact the author, and be granted permission of use too. Copyright Law is Civil Law. I got this information from: http://www.pit.edu/~skvarka/education/copyright/

Everywhere you go to read on this it pretty much is saying the same thing. So, I apologize ahead of time for repeating myself with this to you. But, some things just need to be announced again, read again, or said maybe in different ways with different references too. 

Copyright protects original works of authorship including literacy, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright Does NOT protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation. Although it may protect the way these things are expressed. 

Names are NOT protected by copyright law. Some names may be protected under trademark law. Does Not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases they may be protected as trademarks. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq-protect.html

Copyright protects creative expression that has been reduced to a tangible form such as a book, piece of recorded music, computer program, screenplay, painting, photograph, or motion picture. 

Trademark protects brand names, literally marking items in trade. Idea behind the trademark is to protect the consumer by giving them some confidence that items branded with a certain mark are authentic, and come from where they purpote to come from. 

Patent protects innovation. While you can't copyright an idea, you can patent one. www.benedict.com

Copyrighted works on the net include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, usenet messages, and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that Almost Everything on the Net is protected by copyright law. 

It use to be in order to be afforded any copyright protection, one needed to put the world on notice by attaching a copyright notice to the work. While this is no longer the case, it is still customary to attach a copyright notice on copyrighted works in order to be eligible for certain types of damages. 

4 elements needed: Term copyright or the copyright symbol ~ Year of Copyright ~ Name of copyright holder ~ And the phrase "All Rights Reserved"

The symbol is required in many foreign countries in order for copyright protection to attach. However, in the United States the term "copyright" may now be used in lieu of the copyright symbol. Unless noted which the first part of this discussion was, the rest of this came from here that I found in research from google. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq-protect.html

Also, keep in mind that the copyright is not necessarily the author, or creator of the work. There are companies to consider, the employees who work for them, and so on. 

So, when we show pictures of others we need to give them the credit for it...which has also happened to me with a reputable social media that was corrected when I made them aware of it. I don't mind my things being shown with other places, and feel privileged it would be considered. But, please, ask me first, and also upon using anything here make sure you give the proper credit needed for everything. If I got it from some where, and noted it, make sure you also note it too. If it is something that came from me, please acknowledge that too. 


Well, everyone, sorry it was a bit longer today, and I know there are repeats there too. Sorry, but I just took the content from what I was finding, and noting to put here for all to read. 


Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams today. Hope you enjoyed your visit, and know you are welcome to visit here anytime. If you have something to share with us here, please do. Comments are always welcome from everyone. All I ask is that it is kept civil, no arguing, and remember others do have their own opinions with some things too. Thanks again everyone.