General Copyright

By law, everything created online is copyrighted by its creator. When an article is written, it is automatically copyrighted by the author. Photographs are automatically copyrighted by the photographer, and videos are copyrighted by their creators. All software , scripts and graphic designs are copyrighted.

The one major exception to this rule is content that was produced through a work-for-hire agreement. In a work-for-hire agreement, the person who commissioned the work owns the copyright rather than the person who created it.

Usually there is a copyright symbol included somewhere on the web page, image, video  or other copyrighted material. This mark is not required, however, for copyright laws to apply. The basic rule of thumb is that an item is copyrighted unless it says otherwise.

 

Released Copyrights

Since the online world consists of so much content, and so many different types of people, there are many cases in which the creator of a work has partly or fully released the copyright of content she has created.

A creative commons license, for example, allows other people to use a creator's work, with stipulations. Some creators may not allow their work to be used for commercial purposes, while others may allow use only if you provide a link back to them. In these cases, the work is still copyrighted, but other people are legally allowed to use it for various purposes.

Some creators also release all copyrights to their work by designating it copyright-free. Copyrights that have been reduced or relinquished online are often noted prominently on a web page or within the licensing documentation of the product.

 

Expired Copyrights

Expired copyrights are also known as public domain material. Public domain laws are complicated, but essentially, after a given body of creative work has passed a certain age--currently the author's lifetime plus 70 years--the work is considered no longer copyrighted.

In some cases, more modern materials created by government bodies are also public domain materials, but since the government hires contractors to create content as well, not everything available on government websites is in the public domain.

 

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