But it is just so easy! January 11, 2008
Posted by Kevin Smith in : Copyright Issues and Legislation, Technologies , trackbackThe ease with which we can copy and use stuff found on the Internet, particularly photographs and other images, leads to some delicious ironies when some of the major corporate interests that rail against file-sharing are caught infringing other peoples’ copyrights. The Washington Post published an interesting story on Wednesday that looked at some of these cases where snapshots on the Web were misappropriated for commercial use. Often the unauthorized use is dismissed as accidental — it is amazing how many unsupervised interns appear to doing significant work for these companies — but whether they are the result of inattention or conscious laziness, these lapses suggest that some of the major commercial content owners have little concern for copyrights not their own property. Makes all the rhetoric about theft and the moral claims of creators that is thrown around by these big media companies seem rather disingenuous.
The best thing about this article, however, is the discussion of it, with the wonderful title “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal” on the Info/Law blog. I don’t think I have the chance to point to Info/Law before, but it is an excellent place for information and analysis about the “convergence of intellectual property doctrine, communications regulation, First Amendment norms, and new technology.” This post, which also reports on a recent infringement action filed against Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, is an nice example of a careful yet entertaining dissection of the legal principles at stake in each of the two reported stories.
The point, of course, is that the Internet has fostered a culture of easy borrowing and creative remixing that is at odds with much of our current law. There is a great deal in that culture that is valuable, with its emphasis on user creativity and sharing, and its conflict with much of the prevailing rhetoric about intellectual property is becoming too obvious, and too ubiquitous, to ignore.
Comments»
Easy but dangerous!
It’s not really all that hard to understand, Kevin. Seems to me all of the “fuss” about antiquated laws, ambiguity, and market confusion comes only from the people who routinely steal, or “borrow”, other people’s hard earned “work”.
I totally agree with you regarding the hypocrisy coming out of some of these huge, publicly-funded media and technology companies. Many of them (Google is a great example) steal with one hand and preach with the other.
My small graphic arts development company has been dealing with these copyright and infringement issues for over 25 years. They are not unique to just the Internet. It’s simple. If you do not have written permission to use work you don’t own, don’t have a valid license from a credible source backed up by an enforceable indemnification clause, cannot definitely prove the work is in the Public Domain (tricky these days because of all the PD scams underway), or have not gotten a competent legal opinion regarding “fair use”, then don’t take the chance.
If you weigh all of these factors, and still decide to take your chances anyway because you wish the laws were different, then don’t cry foul when you’re caught. You knew the potential consequences of your actions from the get-go.
Thanks for keeping this dialogue going forward. There are far too many people out here who haven’t bothered to learn the rules of the Internet roads yet … a big mistake in my humble opinion.
Ignorance is not a valid defense for copyright infringement in this country … nor in any country I am aware of who participated in the Berne Convention and signed the WIPO treaties in the late 90s.
I’ll be writing about all of this soon in my new blog, titled Nonsense 2.0. Should be launched in two weeks from our web site at http://www.imageline2.com. Keep your eyes out for the news.
George P. Riddick, III
Chairman/CEO
Imageline, Inc.
griddick@imageline2.com