Make sure you own the copyright to your content

You have been a prolific writer for your business for a long time, and of course, just like all other writers, you use sources to support the facts you write in your content. Of course, there is no reason for him to assume anything other than the fact that he owns the copyright to all the content he is writing.

Sometimes the line is obscured

If you own the copyright to specific content (including graphics, videos, etc.), that means you can do whatever you want with that content. After all, it belongs to you. On the other hand, if someone else owns the copyright to the content, you are severely limited from doing what you want with that content. That means you can’t recycle the content and use it over and over again, you can allow other people to post the content on their websites (for more exposure and wider reach), and you can’t touch the images (making them smaller, more larger, wider, narrower). Your hands are tied in that case. However, you may not always understand when it’s appropriate (legally and ethically) to alter content in some way and when you really need to be on the sidelines.

You probably have an accurate idea that you can’t just find a graphic image online, copy it, and embed it in your content. That’s just common sense. If you use any of someone else’s content (words), you probably realize that you should give credit to the author for what he or she has written. However, copyright goes much further. It is extremely important that you understand the basics of copyright and how it applies to you and your business. If you don’t pay attention to what you are allowed and not allowed to do, you can get into trouble (legally and financially speaking). There are some concepts that will benefit you if you at least have a working knowledge of them. Hopefully, they won’t actually apply to you at any point, but being aware is very important to you.

  • Have a license agreement, including an invoice: That is an invoice from the person who owns the copyright. If you plan to use someone else’s copyrighted material, you will probably have to pay that person (or entity) some money. There may be rare occasions when the person or entity does not collect money from you, but you need to have a written agreement between the two of you to stay out of trouble.
  • Copyright Infringement Lawsuit: This is a lawsuit that occurs in federal court. The person or entity filing the lawsuit is the copyright owner. The lawsuit will make demands, such as that you remove all copyrighted material from anywhere you’ve posted online. You will also (most likely) be expected to pay a certain amount of money (damages) and there is also the possibility that you will be asked to pay attorneys’ fees.
  • Communication of cease and desist: This is a communication (usually in the form of a letter) from the person who owns the copyright instructing you to remove your content from wherever you posted it.
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act Takedown Notice: This is a notice referring to the act on behalf of the copyright owner. It is sent to your web hosting service. You will insist that your web host disable any access to anywhere the copyrighted content appears.

The worrying thing about this situation is that, depending on the whim of the copyright owner, they may end up paying in a variety of ways. It can be minor, but it can also be important. You may be notified of copyright infringement in stages. If you respond immediately after receiving the first notice, you may be lucky and after doing what is required of you, that will be the end of it, as long as you never do it again. However, if it continues, the consequences are likely to become more and more serious. You’ll have to tread carefully in this situation and do what you have to do quickly if you want to come out relatively unscathed.

Learn about your rights

When you are writing content for the first time, you need to make sure that you take all measures to ensure that you never run into these types of issues described above. If you are not the one creating the content, you should ensure that the other person assigns copyright ownership to you. It is essential that you have it in writing. The best thing you can do is have a written contract between you and the other person. Hopefully, in that case, there will be no question about anything. If you want the creator to be able to benefit from the content, it’s safest to include that in the contract as well. The kinds of things you’ll want to include in the contract are: what exactly is being created, how revisions are handled, deadlines and consequences if those deadlines are missed, the payment schedule, who will own the copyright and who will be responsible for the consequences if the copyright is violated. If you have a long-term relationship with that person, you will probably find that you will need to review your contract over time.

conclusion

Copyright ownership may not have been something you thought about very often (or at all); however, you must keep it in mind at all times and be aware of doing the right thing. If you don’t, the consequences probably won’t be pretty. You must protect your reputation and your bank account at all times. Copyright laws are very complicated and you may not even realize that you are violating any of those laws. However, you must be aware of what you are doing and ensure that you do not continue to violate any copyright laws. Interestingly, there are some situations where you don’t need to get permission from the copyright owner of the content. You need to do your research and determine when those rules apply, which will ease the load a bit. Surely you were not aware that you were doing something wrong. However, once you’re up to speed, you need to make sure you do everything by the rules.

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