A Quick Review of Copyright
August 3rd, 2007The other day I discovered a site hosting a modified version of my backmasking page. The version this site was hosting looked almost exactly like the version I had created except the links back to my website had been removed.
This morning I sent an email to the contact address listed asking them politely to remove it from their site. I haven’t heard back from them yet.
Shortly after I read the site’s own copyright notice:
Do not take [website name removed].com’s link out of any code found on [website name removed].com, if you do so you are breaking the law.
An interestingly strong position to take, considering that’s exactly what they did to me.
I also found it interesting that the site was using services from gocopyright.com. A site that claims for $59 they will register your online works with the United States Copyright Office.
(I am not a lawyer, so don’t take anything I say here as legal advice.)
If you’re worried about preserving your rights, you might be interested to know that copyright laws in Canada and the United States as they are now do not require the rights holder to register his or her works in order to hold the copyright. All you have to do is create a work, and presto—you own the copyright and you still have your $59!
As far as I can tell, the $59 is a waste of money for a service that claims, “Your copyright must be registered in order to take legal action against an act of infringement.” Though I am not a lawyer, I’d say this is not true. If you own the copyright, it stands to reason that you can take legal action regardless of registration.*
Independent of these issues, I’d caution anyone about using their service after reading their disclaimer that,
“You expressly agree to use this site at your own risk. The website content, forms, and material on our website are provided “as is”, without warranties of any kind either express or implied with regard to their legal effectiveness, adequacy, suitability or completeness.”
It sounds like they know it’s a superfluous service and don’t want to be caught without a legal leg to stand on, so they wrote one in.
As far as people out there copying my backmasking site goes, I prefer that they just paste a link to the site instead. Here’s an example of the code you could use:
<a href="http://jeffmilner.com/backmasking/>Jeff Milner's Backmasking Site</a>
*I suppose it should be noted that registration could be used as evidence that you are the original creator of the work, but I would guess it’s not the only way you could provide evidence.
Update: The website proprietor said he would take down the copied files, but had quite the gem of an explanation as to why he felt entitled to remove the links back to my site:
“Sorry about that, I will remove your content from my site as soon as possible. Note that it is not in my best interest to direct links to other sites unless you pay for advertising which I’m sure you won’t like to do.
Regards.”
Wow.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Your review of copyright law and copyright registration provides completely false and inacurate information. Under U.S. law (Title 17, U.S. Code), a copyright must be timely registered in order to take legal action against an act of infringement. The federal courts lack jurisdiction absent a plaintifs registration of the copyright at issue. Without registration prior to an act of infringement, statutory damages and attorney’s fees are unavailable. Specifically, under section 411, “no action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.”
Your assessment of this subject is false and misleading and does a great disservice to anyone who might read it and rely on it as acurate information.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:03 am
I fail to see how the information I have provided is “completely false and inacurate.” [sic]
Looking on the copyright.gov site you linked your name to, I found the following under the FAQ about Copyright Registration.
“In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection.” Emphasis mine.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, (I’m not a lawyer) but that seems to match exactly with what my post says.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Your comments are provided out of context. While copyright exists automatically, enforcement of that copyright requires registration. Your post implies otherwise. Timely copyright registration is a jurisdictional prerequisite to filing a lawsuit in federal court. Without filing with the U.S. Copyright Office, you cannot sue an infringer. Merely claiming that you have a copyright provides absolutely no enforceable protection and no ability to legally stop an infringer.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Let me see if I understand you correctly:
1. Copyright exists automatically but 2. You can’t enforce copyright without registration (preferably early).
What, therefore, are the rights that copyright without registration gives you?
It sounds to me, like you are saying copyright without registration is useless.
I understand that registered copyright works are going to hold a much stronger claim in court, but are there any instances where the copyright holder didn’t register and still won an infringement lawsuit?
March 5th, 2008 at 10:48 am
You ask: are there any instances where the copyright holder didn’t register and still won an infringement lawsuit?
You cannot initiate an infringement lawsuit without prior registration. Therefore, “winning” that suit is a moot point.
March 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Then perhaps a better way of wording it would be, what is to stop you from registering a work right before you decide instigate a suit?
If you wouldn’t advise that, then would you say copyright without registration is useless?