How can copyright infringement be prevented

However, despite federal law, which prohibits individuals from copying, publishing, transmitting, exhibiting, distributing, modifying, displaying, or otherwise using whether for profit or not the original creative expressions of others, copyright infringement—intentional and inadvertent—still can and does occur. Copyright infringement typically involves someone using another person's original creative work, or a copyrighted work, without permission.

There are many types and forms of copyright infringement. These are some examples of activities that would constitute copyright infringement if you carry them out without first obtaining permission from the owner, creator, or holder of the copyrighted material:. While by no means an exclusive list, these suggestions will help you avoid inadvertently pirating another individual's creative works:.

Although private and government agencies accept and process copyright registrations, those entities don't normally address alleged copyright infringement claims. As the creator, owner, or holder of the copyrighted material, it's up to you to enforce your rights to stop the infringing activity.

Perhaps the most straightforward and commonly used method to stop copyright infringement is to send a so-called Copyright Infringement Notice directly to the offending party. This is a written notice that identifies the copyrighted subject matter, specifies the alleged infringement or unauthorized use, and threatens action if the infringing activity is not immediately terminated.

The notice may also seek fines and penalties for the past unauthorized use of the copyrighted work. A Copyright Infringement Notice or a Notice of Claimed Infringement is much like a "cease and desist" letter, commanding the infringer to immediately stop the infringement, undo any potential harm, and remove usages of the copyrighted material from public display at once. If the first method doesn't succeed, a second option is for you, as the copyright owner, to file a civil lawsuit against the infringing party.

In the lawsuit, you will need to prove that your copyright precedes any usage of the materials by the infringing party. You can typically request a court order demanding the infringing party to immediately stop using the copyrighted material and ask for money damages that is, monetary compensation for any actual harm that has occurred as a direct result of the infringement. You can protect yourself from copyright infringement by registering your creative works with the help of an attorney.

An expert can also assist you in pursuing copyright infringement penalties or defend you against an infringement action. Contents 4 min read. While in coll… Read more. The client should clearly and succinctly warrant that any information provided to the design professional comes with a right to use such materials. This should be partnered with an indemnity clause that requires the client to defend and hold harmless the design professional from any claims of infringement associated with having or using the prior work.

Ensure that the party that makes such promises is actually financially able to fulfill them. A promise of defense and indemnity from a single-asset entity with no money is basically worthless. You may want to designate another entity with the appropriate assets to make those promises, and have them sign as such, or require a personal guarantee from an individual who can meet those obligations.

Document your own work. Lastly, you should document your own work. Copyright law recognizes the Independent Creation Doctrine, which is sometimes called a defense but is actually a denial of any copying.

In a nutshell, you need to show that you did not copy; in fact, you independently created your own product. You should establish a thorough internal records requirement wherein all of the items that were reviewed, all sketches, all plans and revisions to plans, all meeting notes, and all communications are documented and saved in a logical file system. You and your employees should track their time and briefly describe the tasks and activities performed, even where you are working on a flat fee.

Your records should be detailed enough that you can clearly show any third-party that this is how you independently produced your own work product. In this digital age, there is no real reason not to thoroughly document your work. The best way to avoid an infringement claim is to take steps to minimize the risk and maximize the opportunity for defense if a claim is made. Chances are slim that any "loophole" you find is not something that hasn't been done to death in the courts already.

If it has not, chances are much better that a court would rule against you. Helpful 2 Not Helpful 1. Some works allow derivative works; one example is Halo 3, which allows user-created videos to be made and shared online. Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1. The Wikimedia Commons maintain an extensive summary of public domain legislation from all over the world. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Examples of "fair use" are excerpts of a copyrighted work, such as: A single screenshot of a computer program or game that would normally be used by an advertiser.

You can use an introductory screen in a game, but not one that shows how to complete steps or levels. A one or two sentence summary of an article. Just enough to give a working idea of the content. Full paragraphs and embedded objects are not included. A copy of a sentence or short paragraph from an article with all unnecessary words and phrases snipped out. A paragraph, or even a page, from a substantial book may be copied if it is essential for the purpose of the description being written.

Normally, a small excerpt is considered "Fair Use" because it is simply a quotation and not a substantial copy of content. These organizations are highly aggressive and merciless when it comes to enforcing their copyrights. As listed above, creations lapse into public domain 70 years after the creator's death, except for certain items created between and The year waiting period doesn't begin until by special act of Congress.

All of the above listed creations are included in this update of the Copyright Act. Don't assume that something is without copyright just because it is on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Assume copyright until you can reasonably prove otherwise. One of the most frequent errors that get people in trouble is in using free photo sites. Just because the photo is on one of these sites does not mean the person who posted it there had the right to do so. Even if it says "Some Rights Reserved," meaning you are only required to post attribution, if the photo was originally copyrighted, the copyright remains.

When you see "Some Rights Reserved" you need to carefully check what that means. Usually, this is a Creative Commons license or other similar copyleft license, but you must adhere to the conditions of that particular application.

Not all items under Creative Commons are treated the same. In nearly all cases, Creative Commons-licensed works require attribution of the original creator.

They may also have additional restrictions, such as prohibiting commercial use of the work, or requiring that copies be distributed under a similar license. Related wikiHows How to. How to. Fair Use: Further Issues.

UKCS Fair Dealing: Permitted Acts. More References 2. Michael D. Scott on Information Technology Law. Aspen Publishers. Keep records of the permissions you receive to help you stay out of trouble. It is always ideal to use images from sites which have no copyright restrictions.

Websites such as Pixabay, Wikimedia commons, Creative commons, Pexels and Feerange, to name a few, offer images for use that do not have copyright restrictions. These sites have images on a plethora of topics which you can use for your content creation purpose.

This is a fairly easy way to avoid potential copyright issues. A lot of people think that it is permissible to use copyrighted content by simply giving credit in their post. The truth is, without prior permissions, you can still be sued by the author even if you have given credit to the concerned person in your social media post.