Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
Website copyright violations could cost you in Google search rankings. Read the article.
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Google Search, Copyright Penalties
- Thread starter Fred Weiss
- Start date
phototec
New Member
Great post Fred!
This clears it up:
Confusion has arisen as to what is and is not protected under the 1976 Copyright Act over the Internet because it is not mandatory to secure a copyright through registration with the government—someone’s work is automatically copyrighted as soon as it is created. Whether or not a work is copyrighted by formally registering a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, which permits the owner to insert the copyright © notice, the creator of a work still holds a valid copyright in the work as soon as the work is created.
This clears it up:
Confusion has arisen as to what is and is not protected under the 1976 Copyright Act over the Internet because it is not mandatory to secure a copyright through registration with the government—someone’s work is automatically copyrighted as soon as it is created. Whether or not a work is copyrighted by formally registering a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, which permits the owner to insert the copyright © notice, the creator of a work still holds a valid copyright in the work as soon as the work is created.
letterman7
New Member
Which begs the question what do they (Google, and the copyright folks) consider "a work of art"? Yes, I can see an issue if someone was passing, say, John Deaton's work off as their own and profiting from it, but what about photographs? Outside of pay-per-use sites like Shutterstock, who's to say when a photo is considered art? I've taken more than my share of photos of one of my custom cars in an "artsy" format, and more than a few have appeared on other sites from either my Photobucket account or off of one of the forums I manage. Does that give me the right to contact Google and complain if I don't like the site I found it on?
I think Google, while well-intentioned, may have shot itself in the foot. If they received 11.6 million removal requests in 2011 alone, how many are they going to have to deal with this year?
I think Google, while well-intentioned, may have shot itself in the foot. If they received 11.6 million removal requests in 2011 alone, how many are they going to have to deal with this year?
CES020
New Member
Absolutely, 100% it does. Without question. It's not about what's called "art", it's what you created. The art part has nothing to do with it. You created the photograph, you own ALL rights to it. Period. There is no gray area, you took the photo, you own the rights, UNLESS you took the photo of something you didn't have permission to take the photo of, like a person, or a privately owned piece of property.
Once you look into it, you really can't do much of anything without permission from someone, somewhere.
letterman7
New Member
Oh, I think there is a huge grey area. What if I took a photo of the Washington Monument? That's a public icon, owned by the government. Can they say that I can't use or display that photo on my Facebook page? Probably not - unless I say something derogatory about it or the government. Without getting too off course here since there are a myriad of discussions on copyright laws, Google can really only enforce items that have a "legal" (registered) copyright applied to them. Otherwise there is nothing that aids the average person in protecting their posted work. They can complain, but really, how can you enforce it? The best defense is to watermark everything you do - it makes it that much harder to steal and make your own.
CES020
New Member
There is no gray area. Your knowledge of it may be in a gray area, but there is no gray area. The laws are clearly stated. Do a google search on photography copyrights and you'll get all the links to the right places.
You can take photos of the Washington Monument, as long as you are on public property. However, you cannot walk into the Smithsonian and take photos inside without their permission. You can't walk into an art gallery, owned by the public, and take photos.
The laws are there and very clear.
You can take photos of the Washington Monument, as long as you are on public property. However, you cannot walk into the Smithsonian and take photos inside without their permission. You can't walk into an art gallery, owned by the public, and take photos.
The laws are there and very clear.