contentious.com

NOTE: The rise of the internet has called the concepts of copyright and fair use into question – if not in terms of law, then at least in terms of practicality. Bloggers are trying to figure out how copyright law applies to them and how to protect their hard work. Most blogs have one of the following designations on their site: “Some Rights Reserved” or “All Rights Reserved.” To explain and make a case for each, fellow blogger Travis Swicegood and I have joined forces on a pair of short companion articles explaining why we’ve chosen the licensing we use on our sites. Be sure to read his article: Some Rights Reserved.

By vocation and inclination, I’m primarily a writer. As such, respect for copyright is virtually encoded in my DNA. No writer could make a living, or probably even make a name for herself, if she couldn’t exercise basic control over her work – and get the credit for it. This is why in my copyright notice for CONTENTIOUS I clearly specify that I have reserved all rights. My writing is my intellectual property.

That said, I’m obviously not stingy with my content. In fact, I give much of it away for free on my own site. However, that doesn’t mean my content automatically belongs to everyone. Other people are allowed to republish my work ONLY with my permission, under the terms I specify.

If you want to quote a brief excerpt of my work (such as a paragraph from an article), that’s fine, and no permission is required – as long as you attribute it properly with a link or citation. Excerpts are a classic example of fair use. I often quote brief excerpts of other people’s work in my own articles, and I always give credit (plus a link to the original source, if possible).

I HANDLE MY WEBFEED RIGHTS DIFFERENTLY

Like most bloggers I offer a webfeed. On this point, my copyright notice says: “I allow free republication of my webfeed content ONLY, with appropriate attribution and links.â€? I’ve made this choice because I offer my webfeed with the intent of syndication.

Although most webfeeds are published with the intent of syndication, it’s a mistake to assume that ALL webfeeds are inherently free for anyone to republish. If you wish to republish the content of a webfeed, check the copyright notice or ask the author.

I encourage bloggers and all online publishers to create their own specific copyright statements which address rights issues for both their full-text content and their webfeeds. This discourages plagiarism and misunderstandings.

COPYRIGHT LAW ALLOWS CHOICE

All rights reserved happens to be my choice. Some rights reserved works well for other authors. The key is that only the author can make this choice. I value my right to control my intellectual property. I respect the right of other authors to choose differently.

Of course, anyone is free to make stupid choices as well as smart ones. People who choose to plagiarize or redistribute my work without permission will very quickly learn why that is stupid:

• It’s incredibly easy to get caught plagiarizing online.
• Online plagiarists are likely to be publicly humiliated, especially if they steal content from a popular bloggers.
• The record of your indiscretion will never, ever die – it’s only as far away as a Google search.

Ignorance of copyright is no excuse. Arguing that copyright doesn’t apply to anything posted online is even sillier. Fortunately, it’s easy to be smart about copyright issues. If you’re not sure about the copyright status of a particular work, ask the author. If you can’t contact the author, just post a brief excerpt with attribution and a link or citation. That’ll keep you out of trouble.