Copyright Protection

I went and did a little research on copyright protection for you guys..

Copyright protection is a tangible material that is protected by a copyright. Anything can be copyrighted that you can view, hear, if it can be saved on your computer, or anything else that is a way of saving. Copyright Protection begins when something is created in tangible form. Once you have your material written down or saved somewhere, it is copyrighted, but you can't sue them unless you register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. Even if your copyright isn't registered, you can still assert a copyright claim as the author.

When you see a "© Copyright 2004, 2005 Chris Wilson", it doesn't mean that the copyright expires in 2005. What it means it that the material was created in 2004 and then edited in 2005. A copyright lasts until 50 years after the death of the original author.

Taking anyone's work from the internet is illegal! If you see a background that you like, or part of someone's source that you'd like to use, that's illegal! That material is copyrighted. There are three things that aren't illegal when taking things: if it has been created by the federal government, if the copyright has been abondoned by the holder, and if the copyright has expired.

If you have downloaded a free item from a website, you still have to comply with the owner's terms and or conditions. If it says that you must give them credit, you must give them credit, or else you're commiting copyright infringment. If the owner says you cannot edit it, you can't edit it legally.

You cannot take someone's work and translate it into a different language and then call it your own either.The Bern Convention says: You have to have the author's permission to translate it into a different language.

I'd like to thank www.whatiscopyright.org for educating myself and others on the copyrighting experience. If I hadn't given credit to that website, I would be commiting plagarism from taking their ideas and paraphrasing them.

Hmm, thats really interesting. When I play Sc I see © Blizzard Entertaintment 1994-1998" and I'm like....WOW! SC isn't copyrighted anymore? Lets steal it! Thanks for clearing that up for me/us . Oh, and, it's still valid till after 50 year old the authors death. So, if I copyright my site, die, and 50 years later someone can steal whatever they want off of it without it being illegal, as long as someone else doesn't claim responsibility? Wow, that's interesting.

Ah, i've always wondered about that. Thanks for making that clear for me.

Thanks for clearing those doubts and sharing this information with us

I have always wondered what all that copyright stuff ment. I only knew it ment DON'T copy it other than that I didn't know anything about it.

The only thing important that rejected did not mention on his topic on copywrites is that titles of websites are not able to be copywrited. Therefore, if you created a site in 1999 with the name "Something", anyone else no matter when can create a site names "Something" even if you added the copywrite symbol or stated that it was copywrited.

Also, you do not formally need to apply for copywrite in order for the material to be copywrited. All you have to do is say that it is copywrited.

Thanks for adding that, I'm sure it will prove useful


I already said that..

and then I continued to say

So there

That's very interesting. I had been wondering about some of that for a while now, so it's good to have it all cleared up. Thank you.

thanks rejected & fffanatics, that was one good useful piece of info...
I knew that we need not register but just say copyright and it would be ours.. but other details were nice.

Cheers.

Hmm... this is very interesting. I knew a little about copyright law, but nothing this big. I always wondered what the year next to the copyright notice meant, I thought it was an expiration date. If you're looking for a free copyright site, you should check out: http://www.creativecommons.org