10 Facts About Copyrights

1. You can register a pseudonym without having to put your real name on a copyright registration.

2. You cannot use just any music you want to make your YouTube video. If it is copyrighted, it is off limits unless you get permission from the copyright owner.

3. When someone makes a parody reel or lampoons another artist, it is considered “fair use,” and it’s legal.  Weird Al Yankovic is an example.

4. Because someone composed it, email is a copyrighted work. That makes it an original work. You must ask permission before republishing it or forwarding it to other people.

5.  Google images are not free to use because Google doesn’t own the images. It is a good bet that there is probably a copyright on most images on the internet. 

So why did Google give you all those pictures in your search? Because Google is a search engine programmed to search out whatever keyword you typed into it. If it returns a bunch of pictures or websites to you, it means you asked and Google found.

6. United States copyrights are now good for 95 years, changed from life plus 70 years because of the Sonny Bono Law of 1998, which added 25 years to all existing copyrights.

7.  All United States Government websites are copyright free, with the exception of articles or photos regarding the President who is presently in office. Once he is out of office, his stuff becomes public domain.

8.  Copyrights that have expired, enter public domain on only one day of every year  – January 1.

9. The United States Government can change the status of a public domain work any time they want to. It is usually done when they see that they can make money on the work by charging for its use.  

10.  If you live in any of the countries in the European Union, the law of the country you live in is the law you have to abide by. So if the United States has certain laws that your country hasn’t yet adopted, the US law doesn’t apply to you. You must reside in the US for US law to apply to you.

© Rachael O'Halloran, July 28, 2014

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