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by John Betts
Web sites, newsletter, handouts, videos, slide shows. What do they have in common? They are all subject to copyright protection and must abide by copyright laws.
This article is to clarify the many misconception among mineral clubs, bulletin editors, AFMS and the EFMLS. Everything in this article has been researched and verified. Unfortunately, this may hurt how mineral clubs operate. But unless we take the precautions listed in this article, you are will be guilty of copyright violations.
As an author I have had many instances where my articles have been reprinted without my permission. I have heard many excuses. They all show a basic misunderstanding of today’s copyright law. Following are the excuses most often given along with the actual rules that apply:
Misconception #1:
The article does not have a "C in a circle" symbol, therefore it is not
copyrighted.
Fact:
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) "The laws
of almost all countries provide that copyright protection starts as soon
as the work is created." You do no need the symbol or the phrase "All rights
reserved" in order to protect an article from copyright infringement. These
devices will discourage many, but they are not required.
Misconception #2:
The article was less than 250 words, therefore we can use it freely.
Fact:
An article, column, paragraph or sentence are all equally protected by copyright
law regardless of length.
Misconception #3:
I credited the original club that published the article, therefore we are
legal.
Fact:
Giving credit is not a substitute for getting permission. You must contact
the author in advance and get permission. For your protection you should
get permission in writing or email.
Misconception #4:
We got permission from another club editor to use the article, therefore
we are legal.
Fact:
This is the most abused and misunderstood aspect of copyrights. It is sad,
but true, that only the author can grant permission to reprint an article.
We will discuss later various strategies for dealing with this problem in
the conclusion of this article. But the law is clear, bulletin editors can
must get the author’s permission before using an article unless the
club has received the authors approval to grant permission for reprinting.
(In professional journals they clearly establish copyright ownership in advance
with authors.)
Misconception #5:
The article won a prize in the EFMLS annual competition, and the EFMLS said
we can reprint it, therefore it is not protected by copyrights.
Fact:
This is another misunderstanding. Again, only the author can grant permission
reprint an article. If, in the future, the EFMLS includes a permission form
for all entries to the bulletin editor’s competition to grant permission
to reproduce, then other clubs can freely use the articles. But presently
there is no such provision and the authors must be contacted to get permission.
Misconception #6:
We are not for profit, therefore copyright laws do not apply.
Fact:
Copyright laws apply to everyone. Not for profit status does not exempt you
from copyright laws.
Misconception #7:
We can distribute Xerox copies of magazine articles to our members at meetings.
Fact:
Photocopies, transcriptions, or reprinting are all equally treated under
copyright law. It is illegal to reproduce for any purpose an article without
permission except under the provision of "fair use". Copyright law does allow
fair use of copyrighted material provided only limited copies are made and
it is for journalistic, educational or private use. But fair use is limited
to the extent that the value of the original article is not reduced in any
way. This is a very murky area of the copyright law and it is important that
clubs play it safe. If you are going to rely on the fair use rule you should
limit yourself to four or five paragraphs or illustrations and be careful
not to take the text out of context so that the meaning is changed.
Misconception #8:
We excerpted only a portion of the original article, this is allowed under
copyright laws.
Fact:
This is partially true. Small excerpts can be used, with proper credit to
the original author and publisher, in original literary works without infringing
on copyrights. However Lapidary Journal recently used an excerpt of one of
my articles (without permission). The excerpt amounted to 80% of the column
content. That is a copyright infringement. In this case by excerpting only
parts of the article they omitted important safety precautions. As a rule
of thumb, keep you excerpts short, and in small proportion to the original
article content, and provide complete credit to the citation.
Misconception #9:
The article is over 25 years old, therefore no longer protected by copyrights.
Fact:
There are several different terms for works published depending on date of
publication. For works created before January 1,1978 the copyright coverage
is generally for 75 years after publication or 100 years after creation if
unpublished, whichever is shorter. There are some subtleties in this law
around a 28 year term when first published that is extended to 75 years
automatically. Bulletin editors should use the rule that copyrights extend
75 years from date of publication.
Misconception #10:
This article was from another country therefore not protected by copyright
law.
Fact:
Currently all developed countries have signed either the International Union
for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Union) or the
International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Union).
The total count as of April 1, 1998 was 168 countries participating in enforcing
reciprocal copyright laws. Country of origin makes no difference, you must
still get the author’s permission.
Misconception #11:
Another club reprinted the article, therefore it is legal for our club to
reprint the article.
Fact:
Permission granted to reproduce an article is not transferable. Each subsequent
club must contact the author to get permission.
Misconception #12:
We included the article on our club internet web site, since we didn’t
actually publish anything, we have not violated the copyrights.
Fact:
This is one of the most common abuses and is a violation of copyrights. Again,
you must get the authors permission to use the article. If the article originated
on a web site, it is proper netiquette (internet etiquette) to put a description
to the article on your page with a link to the original web site article.
As a courtesy you should ask permission first.
Misconception #13:
I got the author’s permission to reprint an article that he wrote for
a magazine, therefore it is legal.
Fact:
This may or may not be true. In general, magazines request authors assign
their copyrights to the magazine. In this case only the magazine (the copyright
holder) can grant permission to use their article. However, knowledgeable
authors know that they do not have to assign copyrights to the magazine,
they can simply grant the magazine the right to publish the article and retain
the copyright for themselves. In this case contacting the author does in
fact get legal permission to use the article
By now you might think the situation looks hopeless. But their are solutions. If all clubs adopted the following standards then we will continue to have a free flow of new articles.
List the author’s address, and email for every article printed in the newsletter. This will give other bulletin editors the information needed to get legal permission.
Contact the author or magazine before reprinting an article. In my experience no newspaper, magazine or author has ever refused permission to use an article in a club newsletter when asked in advance.
Get permission in writing, or at least email. This is essential to protect yourself from copyright infringement claims in the future, especially from forgetful authors.
Make all authors submitting articles to your newsletter assign your club the copyright. Then you can place a blanket permission statement on the bulletin cover page allowing use of article within. Serious authors are likely to balk at this requirement.
Remember that copyright laws apply to things other than newsletters. Web sites, handouts, videos, etc. are all covered by copyright law. Many infringements have needlessly occurred on web sites where articles are placed on a web site without permission. If the article exists on the author’s original web site it is very easy to simply link to the original article. No need to reprint it at all. Otherwise you must get the author’s permission.
If you cannot get permission from the author for whatever reason, you can paraphrase. Words can be copyrighted but not the ideas. You can rewrite the article in your own words and not infringe on copyrights. Be very careful to avoid accidentally changing the original meaning and it is still proper to cite your sources, in fact in the EFMLS annual competition articles are penalized if they don’t cite references.
Use articles or illustrations in the public domain. All U.S.G.S maps and publications are in the public domain and are not covered by copyrights. Articles from magazines that have expired copyrights are also in the public domain. (Did you ever wonder why you see "It’s A Wonderful Life" on television 25 times at the holidays? It is because the copyrights expired and it fell into the public domain.)
For further information on the subject of copyrights you can visit the Library of Congress United States Copyright Office web site at:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
Or visit the World Intellectual Property Organization web site at:
http://www.wipo.org/eng/index.htm
© 1999 by John H. Betts - All Rights
Reserved
Unlimited reproduction of this article is granted for non-commercial use.
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