Topic Shorts & Resources

Copyright: What's It all About?

There have been many changes to the U.S. copyright law since 1790, when
Congress first enacted the United States copyright law. The law gave writers
exclusive rights to publish and sell maps, charts and books for a period of
fourteen years.

They could renew the copyright for another fourteen years. In the 19th century,
copyrights became available for pictures, photographs, paintings, and drawings.
In 1909, the copyright law covered rolls for player pianos. Since 1976, copyright
law has expanded to include cable, digital photography, TV, computer software,
tapes, CDs, DVDs, and, most recently, MP3s
Up until 1998, copyrights lasted for the life of the author plus an additional fifty
years, before they reverted to public domain (anyone could then use the item
without charge). But in 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
extended the duration of copyrights by twenty years. The act was supported by a
group of large corporations, led by Disney. Most of Disney's famous characters,
Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and all the rest, were scheduled to enter the
public domain between 2000 and 2004.

In this day and age of copy cat plagiarism one can never be too careful and yet we see it all the time, authors or website owners fail to put up
that implied little Copyright Symbol. Some say it will not do any good and maybe they are right and yet without it, your work is as good as gone.
Whether or not you publish your work in a print medium, video format or on the Internet you need to make sure that you get credit for it and the
best way to do that is to make sure that it is copyrighted.

Recently we have seen many new entrants into the eBook Markets and they sell their work online, yet often they do not put a copyright symbol
on it. Some are hoping for the best surely and putting trust into a non-trustworthy species; humans. This is unwise because humans are
intrinsically prone to copying, imitating and thus the saying; Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Indeed, but nevertheless play it smart and
protect your work, do it and you will be glad you did.

As an author of sorts I have seen my work in other places with someone else’s name on it. Imagine how I felt, watching someone take credit for
something they basically lifted off my website, without even bothering to change a word and then putting their own name on it instead?
Personally I feel sorry for them, because that seems like a really ethically challenged person to me. But consider all this in 2006 and use that
copyright symbol often