How to comply with fair use copyright terms

There is often confusion over what types of rights exist for intellectual property, and if it can be legally used. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the laws related to copyrights and mistakenly utilise products illegally.

Overview

Copyrighting refers to the right of a work's owner (the original creator of the work or the individual to whom it has been transferred) to prevent its use by others without permission, thus preventing exploitation. In the UK, Copyright became statutory in 1911. Since then, it has fallen to the UK Copyright Service to define what is copyright law and what constitutes fair use under this law. According to this Service, the law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions rights to control the ways in which their materials may be used. U.S. laws are similar.

Fair Use Statute

The UK Copyright Laws determine what is considered fair use. This defines under what conditions the material can be used without being considered an infringement of the property. Based on Fair Use, it may be legal to use quotations or excerpts from a work provided: - They follow the Fair Use Statutes. - Only what is necessary to express the idea is used. - Both the source where the work can be found and the author are referenced. Fair Use generally allows the use of materials for limited personal/educational purposes, news stories, and incidental inclusion, which refer to something included accidentally and without intention. An example would be when a shot in a movie captures the name of an establishment in the background. The big myth that exists regarding copyrights is the assumption that if there’s no copyright notice, no copyright exists. While a doctrine of notice of copyright makes matters clearer, even without one, an individual is responsible for determining what rights exist for the work in question prior to using it.

All Rights Reserved versus Public Domain

While there are different types of copyrights defining exactly what is necessary to use the work, the most common are “All Rights Reserved” and “Public Domain”. “All Rights Reserved” refers to a creator of a work maintaining all rights afforded under the copyright law including distributing, performing, or quoting. A “Public Domain” work indicates that it is available to everyone for use without being subject to copyright law. There are many sites that provide public images which are in the public domain. It is important to note that something can be in the Public Domain but available for personal use only. So, if an individual wants to use something commercially, the rights statement must also include “available for commercial use”.