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Five Major Myths Of Copyright Law
Think you know all there is to know about copyright law? Be careful--it's a lot more complicated than you might guess. Here are some tips from Intellectual Property Law Primer, a pamphlet written by J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe.
Myth No. 1:
"The work I want to use doesn't have a copyright notice on it, so it's not copyrighted."
Why it's wrong: Although most published works contain a copyright notice, it's optional for works published on or after March 1, 1989. Just because a work doesn 't have a copyright notice doesn't mean the work is unprotected by copyright. In fact, it probably is.
Myth No. 2:
"I don't need a license because I'm using only a small amount of the copyrighted work."
Why it's wrong: It's true that de minimis copying-that is, copying a small amount-does not infringe copyrights. But the courts have found it very difficult to tell where de minimis copying ends and copyright infringement begins.
Copying a small amount of a copyrighted work is an infringement if what is copied is a qualitatively substantial portion of the copied work. In one case, a magazine article that used only 300 words from a 200,000-word autobiography by President Gerald Ford was found to infringe the copyright because the copied portions were among the most powerful passages in the autobiography. Copying any part of a copyrighted work is risky. It's better to get a permission or a license, unless "fair use" applies.
Myth No. 3:
"Since I plan to give credit to all authors whose works I copy, I don't need to get licenses."
Why it's wrong: Attribution isn't a defense against copyright infringement. But giving credit to a work's author does protect you from charges of plagiarism; that is, you're not pretending you authored the copied work.
Myth No. 4:
"My multimedia work will be a wonderful showcase for the copyright owner's work, so I'm sure the owner will not object to my use of the work."
Why it's wrong: Even if the owners are willing to let you use their work, they'll probably want you to pay them a license fee. Content owners view multimedia as a new market for licensing their material. In 1993, for example, 10 freelance writers sued The New York Times and other publishers over what they charge was the unauthorized publication of their work over online services. The Harry Fox Agency and other music publishers have sued the CompuServe online service for allegedly violati ng copyright by distributing music electronically.
Myth No. 5:
"I don't need a license because I'm going to alter the work I copy."
Why it's wrong: In general, you can't escape liability for copyright infringement by altering or modifying the work you copy. If you copy and modify protected elements of a copyrighted work, you'll be infringing not only the copyright owner's modification right, but also the copying right.
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