Protect Your Website's Copyrights Through Commercial Litigation

When it comes to ownership or violation of the infringement act set by the law, firms need to take assistance of commercial litigation services that would provide satisfactory results. Most firms fall apart due to differences between partners and also regarding the ownership right of each partner, this is when proper legal formalities can solve the issues. Online firms have been facing threats from close competitors by using the domain names that are strikingly similar except for a small change in detail which would ultimately give an undue advantage for the competitor.

Taking legal action against the violators should be done in a careful manner so as to safeguard the interests of the firm. Commercial litigation service would ensure the right kind of justice that could help businesses to oversee the threats from close quarters. With the growing importance of online trade, it is important that all the business entities are protected from external factors that hamper the growth prospects.

Internet lawyers can clearly be able to chart out various terms and conditions that can have legal implications in case of any violation by another source. Websites are prone to content duplication, plagiarism, imitation of the design, defamation and also copying the domain name. Most of these factors are crucial to maintain the true identity of a business that is needed to establish astonishing growth rate.

There might be several conflicts that may arise from various sectors when it comes to an online firm. Some of them include the web hosting agreements, violation of rules by contributors to the website, website promotion agencies, web designers and also the clients who establish contacts with the online firm. A commercial litigation expert can guide these firms to win legal battles against those who have violated the terms and conditions of the business.

Intellectual property rights of internet related businesses are crucial for long term business prospects. Commercial litigation lawyers help in drafting key rules and regulations in these matters to make the company free from any disputes in the future. Choosing the services of an established lawyer is important to take care of the interest of the online firms. Internet dispute settlement lawyers can deliver quick solutions to the ongoing problems and can successfully draft charges against those who are guilty of violating the terms and conditions.

Through the support of internet lawyers one can successfully sue those who are guilt on charges of infringement of the law. Website protection is important for any business to establish its reputation and also to avoid any large disparities with the competitors. Commercial litigation lawyers will provide services that would address various legal issues that might arise in the future.

With changing trend of legal framework it is important to hire for the services of reputed cyber lawyers who can provide the right kind of protection to the clients. Activities such as cyber squatting and typo squatting can be controlled to a great extent through the support of commercial litigation lawyers.

Judit Velarde is the author of this article on Crossborder Litigation.
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Efforts Towards Copyright Policy in China

Due to plagiarism and infringement of pieces of work in literature; music; drama; art; sound recording; architectural design and government work, copyright policies are much stressed upon all over the world. But some authors and publishers have been surprised by the unlawful reproduction of their copyrighted works. Big stories from famous authors were pirated by the container loads and distributed all over the world. China is facing a major issue concerning piracy perhaps because most of the books are being printed and published there.

This violation of the copyright law became a very serious problem when all the books on The New York Times bestseller list were produced by a pirating publisher into thousands of copies and distributed throughout the world before the original work could come to the market. Even the United State had many such pirated copies in its own markets.

China is taking desperate measures to stop this infringement on their account by burning any pirated DVDs, books or magazine that they find in their country. It has been reported by Barbara Demick in Los Angeles Times that a large number of such alleged work was found and burnt in Beijing on a big scale. Though, it seems like a big waste of money and time at the moment, but this daring act will probably have better effects in the long run in discouraging plagiarism.

The National Copyright Administration has been established in China to ensure the security of original pieces. The Government of China wants everyone around the world to know about their steps to eliminate this problem of piracy. These measures will make traders and investors around the world working with China more secure about their businesses, as their growing concern was the increasing violation of copyright law in China. This will also protect China's local products which are often copied by other countries and are causing them a big loss. The matter here needed quick measures as piracy was not only affecting the country's foreign investors but also its local market.

China is putting in a great effort to eliminate this menace from not only the country itself but also the rest of the world. It has joined hands with the other countries to ensure observing the copyright law better. Critics believe it is only a drop in the ocean compared to tons of pirated copies distributed all over. At least the effort has started somewhere.

Copyright UK Provide Complete Copyright Protection For Your work. We ensuring that you always have the best proof to protect your Copyright work and your rights.

Why You Need To Place Watermarks On Images You Post Online

If you regularly upload photos on the Web, you should ensure that no one is using them without your consent. One easy way to do this is by watermarking your photos. A photography watermark can be another picture as in a logo, words, or the name of the photographer which is placed over the picture. If a photo has a watermark, those looking at it will know that they are not allowed to copy or use your photo without first notifying you or abiding by your requirements. Many websites also do watermarking on their pictures and illustration to warn those visiting the site that reproducing or reusing these images constitutes infringement.

Watermarks can be created in a few minutes with little or no difficulty as long as you have the appropriate software. There are a number of software you could use to do watermarking, Photoshop and Corel creative suites, for instance. There are also web applications that permits you to create photo watermarks for free. These applications that allow you to make photo watermark for free might or might not have batch processing capabilities. Many of these programs which enable you to make free watermark photos have other features as well such as simple photo editing. A lot of these software also allow direct uploading of free watermark photos to social networking and image sharing websites.

There are also websites that allow you to make photography watermarks and then search for places where your photos are being used on the World Wide Web. This tracking service will help you monitor for infringement. In most cases, you have to pay a small amount to enjoy such capability. In most cases, these websites require you to pay around $30 to $50 a month to continue using the service.

Some photo hobbyists and professionals are reluctant in adding watermarks to their pictures because they believe these will negatively affect the look of the image and prevent people from seeing their work in the best quality possible. If you are one of those people who subscribe to this notion, consider using invisible watermarks. As the term implies, an invisible watermark is an overlaid image that cannot be seen, but can be detected algorithmically.

Some photographers place an invisible watermark that is destroyed when the image is manipulated digitally. This type of evidence can be admitted in court to support misappropriation lawsuits. The choice of watermarking your pictures is yours to make, but remember that doing such can save you from a lot of headache and heartache in the future.

There are a number of software which makes creation of photo watermarks for free possible. Click here to continue reading about: photography watermark.

Using Copyrighted Material: How to Ask For Permission

Most people are aware that using copyrighted material without permission is considered copyright infringement (except in cases like fair use). But how do you go about getting permission to use this material?

Depending on the type of work, and depending on the status of the artist, there are a few different ways to obtain permission.

Copyright Office's Database

The copyright office's website offers a searchable database, which contains the registration information of any copyrights that have been officially registered with the Library of Congress. You'll of course need to know some basic information about the work you're looking for in order to search for it: the artist, the title of the song or artwork, or better yet, the registration date and number.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that anything able to be copyrighted (a piece of music, for example, or a photograph or graphic design) is automatically copyrighted; registration is not necessary in order to be protected against infringement by copyright law.

What does this mean to you? It means that if you can't find a listing in the copyright office, whether it's because you don't have enough information to search for it or because there is no listing for the work at all, you'll need to expand your search for the copyright owner into other avenues.

Website

Most artists these days have an online presence, whether that be an official sales website, a blog, or even a Facebook page. If you can't find a particular song or image in the Library of Congress's database, try contacting the artist directly to ask for permission.

Many musicians' websites contain a section specifically devoted to copyrights and permissions; try looking at the very bottom of the page or along the sidebar. If there's nothing obviously dedicated to permissions, try the Contact Us or About Us tabs, especially if the artist is an independent musician.

Of course, once an artist reaches a certain level of recognition, it may not be possible to contact him or her directly.

Performing Rights Organization

When a band is signed to a major label, part of the transition from independent to represented artist is usually to choose one of the three major performing rights organizations to handle licensing and permissions. In this case, the artist him- or herself is not the contact at all.

BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC are organizations dedicated specifically to managing their artists' catalogs, acting as the party that deals with licensing their material. The movie and television industries know to contact the organization responsible for a particular artist in order to license their material.

You can do the same; just search each organization's catalog until you locate your artist (many musicians list their performing rights organization on their websites) and contact the organization using the appropriate channel. Each of these organizations' website has a Licensing department specifically dedicated to permissions requests.

What if I can't ask for permission?

Sometimes, it's just not possible to ask for permission. Perhaps the Library of Congress's database doesn't include contact information (it's optional to include). Perhaps you don't know the title of the work, or even the name of the artist (quite common in cases where a photograph or image was hosted improperly to begin with and even the website owner doesn't know the origin).

Whatever the reason, you should never assume that because you couldn't locate the copyright owner, you somehow have permission by default. Even if you've exhausted literally every resource you can find and still can't come up with the copyright owner, other than limited exceptions like fair use, using a work without permission is copyright infringement.

Sure, if you couldn't find the copyright owner, it may be unlikely that he or she is going to come out of the woodwork just to sue you for infringement. But such a lawsuit would be well within his or her rights. Is the risk worth it?

Sarah Kolb, http://www.clickandcopyright.com/

Since 2000, Click and Copyright has helped thousands of small business owners, independent entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and writers start new businesses, protect their intellectual property, and find new ways to market and promote their business and creative works.

To Use or Not to Use? Copyright Infringement and the Use of Online Images

Recently, one of my clients posed this question to me about using online images. It made me realize that many business owners and entrepreneurs may struggle with this issue. If you've ever wondered about using images online and how that use impacts copyright law, then you owe it to yourself to take a peek at my answer. It is better to be educated (and safe) than ignorant (and potentially, sorry)!

Question:

Many people are confused about using images in ezines, products or on their website that are captured from the web. I purchase most of my images from IStock, or other resources, but what are the clear cut rules?

I know Constant Contact offers free images as well as Microsoft clipart. And when writing about a product or resource (basically promoting them), is it safe to use a picture of the product or company logo? I've done this before.

You can get yourself into trouble by using images, can't you? Even if you don't see a "copyright" on them? I would assume that you can ask for permission and cite the image source. Could you could give advice to all those building their business about this? Thank you.

Answer:

Great question! I have a colleague that just got into trouble with this exact scenario for using an image without permission for her ezine that was copyrighted by a photographer.

Copyright protection begins the moment an original work is created and lasts for the creator's life plus 70 years. Copyright protection extends to literature, music, plays, choreography, pictures, graphics, sculptures, architecture, movies, audiovisuals and recordings. So you are correct that images and photos are included and given copyright protection.

Copyright infringement is using someone else's creative work without authorization or compensation, if compensation is appropriate. So, what we are dealing with here is a potential copyright infringement of someone else's photo or image. (It may also be a trademark infringement if the image or logo is trademarked.)

The owner of the copyrighted material controls whether others can reproduce the work, prepare derivative work, distribute copies or display it. Using it without permission, even if you credit the creator, is not acceptable. Neither is copying others' original work that does not carry a copyright symbol.

However, there are exceptions. One is "public domain." But, don't misinterpret the term "public domain." Just because it is on the internet, does not mean it is public domain! Once a copyright expires, it enters the public domain. Public domain comprises all works that are no longer protected or never were, including works created prior to 1923, and works created between 1923 and 1963 on which copyright registrations were not renewed. Works created since 1989 are presumptively protected, and all government material, such as statutes and laws.

There is also a Fair Use Exception to copyright infringement that allows the limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holder. It is permitted for literary criticism, comment, news, reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. The courts use a four-factor balancing test to determine if fair use exception applies: 1) Purpose and character of use, 2) nature of use, 3) amount and substantiality of work used, and 4) effect on market value of work. Some people believe there is a 5th factor too that depends on the type of infringer (non-profit or for-profit) and its intentions and track record (a repeat offender or an unknowing and unintentional infringer).

The easiest way to avoid copyright infringement is to only use images from sources that specifically grant permission, some of which you listed, such as iStock. There is also a non-profit organization called Creative Commons that grants copyright permissions through a tiered approach ranging from selective protection to unlimited grant of permission. You can learn more at http://www.creativecommons.org. Be sure to look for a Creative Commons License on a website to see if the owner has specified which rights he or she is retaining, and which rights he or she is willing to release.

Another way to avoid copyright infringement is to ask to use the work. Sending a simple email request to use an image takes just a few minutes, and can save you a lot of turmoil (and potential legal fees!) in the long run. Approach people online on sites like Flickr. Let them know you'd like to use one of their images, which one, for what purpose, and offer to give them credit. Also, check Stock Exchange and Wiki Commons. Read through the restrictions and rights. Artists will usually list whether a photo may be used, for what purpose, and what type of credit must be given.

Despite all of the above, if you are using an official image of a product to promote it, the assumption is usually that the owner of that product is happy to have you assist in their marketing efforts. It has become common practice to use an image of a product when reviewing it, sharing it with your readers, and promoting it for people to purchase. Most companies that put a photo of their products on the internet are thrilled if you take that image and tell the world about that product. It is like having a global sales team! Indeed, if you are an affiliate of a product, there is an implied agreement for you to be able to use the images of that product in order to fully promote it as an affiliate. I often review products on my blog, and the companies that I do so for are only too happy to provide me with images.

The bottom line: When in doubt, use images that specifically grant permission. If you are unsure, do not use the image! Seek permission first or find a different image that is clearly permissible to use.

Copyright 2011 LM Organizing Solutions. Lisa Montanaro, "The Solutions Expert," is Principal of LM Organizing Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm created in 2002 that offers professional organizing, business and life coaching, and motivational speaking to individuals and organizations. To receive a free audio program on Conquering Paper Clutter, subscribe to Lisa's free monthly ezine, "DECIDE™ to be Organized" at http://www.lmorganizingsolutions.com/. Lisa is the author of the book "The Ultimate Life Organizer: An Interactive Guide to a Simpler, Less Stressful & More Organized Life" published by Peter Pauper Press, which can be found at http://www.theultimatelifeorganizer.com/. Through LMOS, Lisa helps people deal with the issues that block personal and professional change and growth. To explore how LMOS can improve your home or work environment, contact Lisa at (845) 988-0183 or by e-mail at Lisa@LMOrganizingSolutions.com.