Please Don’t Steal My Copyright, it’s Naughty!

Part 2 in the article series: Copyright Infringement on the Internet

by Linda Matthews

Photo courtesy Mikelo

What exactly is copyright?
The legal aspects of copyright law are complex, but put simply; copyright is legal protection given to authors and creators of artwork, music and photography and the like to protect them against others using their words, artwork design, music or images.

What is copyright violation?
Copyright violation or infringement is taking those words or images without the knowledge or permission of the creator and using them for your own use and/or personal gain.

What is personal gain?
Personal gain does not only mean making money from someone else’s ideas; it can also mean that you somehow personally gain something from it.

Obvious or not
While photo and article theft are the more obvious copyright infringement situations, other forms of internet copyright violation frequently occur.

Explain please
Let’s try an example . . . A quilter buys a quilt pattern from an online store. It’s in pdf format so she prints it out. She shows the pattern to her group of 12 quilting friends and they decide that it would be fun to have a group playday using this pattern. They are all so excited and set a date – what a great fun day this is going to be!

The quilter who bought the pattern then prints a copy for everyone …. whoops, what’s wrong with that sentence?

Personal gain in this case means that 11 quilting friends personally gain a free quilting pattern even though the teeny tiny copyright notice on the bottom of the document says that you must not share this pattern and that it’s for your own personal use.

Just because they are made available on the internet, does not change the fact that downloadable pdf patterns are most assuredly also subject to the designer’s copyright, just as are paper patterns bought from a store.

Photo courtesty fiona ☾✫ collum

But who’s going to know ?
You will know (and your conscience will know). And maybe the pattern designer will know – did you post photos of your groups’ playday on Flickr or did you blog about it? Remember, the internet brings the whole wide world web and everything on it to anyone’s computer desktop in an instant. Often all it takes is a few simple keystrokes in the Google search box.

But what can, or will, the designer do?
If someone is caught infringing on another’s copyright, the best case scenario would be “probably nothing”, but this type of action is becoming rarer as copyright owners declare war on those who infringe upon their rights.

Large websites such as Flickr and Google make it *very* easy for copyright owners to track and confront those who have taken their content or photos by providing step-by-step instructions on how to identify and confront the perpetrators. If found guilty, consequences can range from a “cease and desist” notice, or at the very worst a “see you in court” letter from a lawyer. It can also result in the perpetrator having his or her website shut down.

If in doubt
Understanding copyright law can be downright confusing and is well beyond what most of us can understand, but the simplest solution is; “If in doubt, ask!” For example, while surfing the web you find an image of a beautiful quilt and you’d like to use it on your computer desktop but the owner’s copyright notice doesn’t say anything about downloading images, then send them an email and ask. You may just be surprised and happy to get a “yes” answer.

Resources

©opyright for Quilters and Crafters by Sylvia Landman

Tomorrow: Part III – “The Blame Game.”

Copyright notice for this article

You are welcome to reprint this article in full or as a series, providing that no changes are made to it, and that this copyright notice and my signature (About the author) remain intact. If you are posting this article to a blog or the website, you must leave the live links intact. If you’re still not sure about it, email me at linda@creative-textile-and-quilting-arts.com.