Welcome to esiq.org

Copyright Infringement Play It Safe: Making Sure You're Not Committing Copyright Infringement Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as simple as not using someone else’s work, it’s not that easy. Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many other organizations, we have the ability to use others’ works – as long as we use it under ‘fair use’ laws. So what does fair use have to do with copyright infringement, and how can you utilize it? Fair use laws are the conditions in which you can use a copyrighted work without having to pay someone royalties. This includes when you use a copyrighted work for educational or instructional uses, criticism of the work, commentaries on the work, news reporting about the work, teaching on the work (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship uses, and research. This is talked about fully in Section 107 of the Copyright Code (commonly called Fair Use) and is available for you to read at your local library. Copyright Infringement in day-to-day life Sometimes, if you’re writing a paper for work or school, or if you are creating a Power Point presentation, you need to use someone’s work that is already in copyright. So how do you use it without committing copyright infringement? All you have to do is ask – the worst they can say is no, right? But, if they do say no, there are several items in the public domain which may help you to finish your project without having to commit copyright infringement. What is the public domain, and how does it relate to copyright infringement? Material that is not copyrighted is considered in the public domain – you cannot commit copyright infringement on works in the public domain. These works include things that the copyright has expired on, or is not copyright-able – such as government publications, jokes, titles, and ideas. Some creators (writers, musicians, artists, and more) deliberately put their work in the public domain, without ever obtaining copyright, by providing an affiliation with Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows people who create materials to forfeit some, or all, of their copyright rights and place their work either partially or fully in the public domain. So, how do I ensure I’m not committing copyright infringement? First of all, if you’re going to use someone else’s material, you may want to check the public domain to see if something is suitable for use, instead of trying to use someone else’s copyright. However, if you can’t find something suitable (and you can’t create something yourself), the next best thing (and your only legal course of action) is to find a piece that is in copyright, and contacting the copyright holder. When you contact the copyright holder, make sure you tell them what you want to use their piece for – whether it’s for your blog, podcast, or report – and ask them if you can use it. You may have to pay royalties, or an attribution in your piece, or a combination of both. The creator may also place many limitations on when and how you can use their material. Follow all these instructions they give you, and you’ll be free and clear to use their work as you want. Once you have permission to use a copyrighted work, you need to make sure you stay within the agreed-upon boundaries - if you veer outside their agreed terms, you may open yourself up for a copyright infringement lawsuit – which can be nasty, costly, and time consuming. If you’re in doubt, before contacting the copyright holder, contact a copyright lawyer to ensure you’re following the law – and protect yourself!

Copyright lawyer search Easy Ways to Finding a Good Copyright Lawyer Search with the Internet There are a few easy ways to find a good copyright lawyer search while using the internet, however just typing in the phrase doesn’t always work. You must know how to use a search engine; after all you don’t just want the first person that pops up. No, you want that best person for the job representing you, it doesn’t matter what your copyright issue is. If it has come to a time that you actually need to do a copyright lawyer search than chances are you are being sued or want to sue someone, this means you want someone that knows what they are doing and hopefully has a little experience under their belt. First, you can go to any search engine and type in “Copyright lawyer“, search for the first ten or look on the sides where all the ads are. Remember, companies pay money to have their ads on the side, maybe they are great. The only way you’ll be finding out is if you click on them and explore. You may even want to type in more than one phrase, “Copyright lawyer+intellectual property.” This search would bring up even more lawyers pages that deal with copyright issues, which is what you should be looking for in the first place. Now you’ve narrowed down the field by thousands. Once you’ve found a lawyer you make want to make sure he is in your area. There are sites that will help you determine this by putting in your zip code or state in which you live, this will bring you to a page with all the lawyers that specialize in that field that live near you. You may not be as lucky as some and actually have to drive to get to one; however it’ll be worth it since they know what they are doing. Don’t forget to do a search of the lawyer before you make any final decisions, you may actually find a review or two on him/her. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how they rank compared to others in this field? You can even find that out as you do are on a search for a copyright lawyer, just type it in like you did for intellectual property. Ask any questions you may have on the phone and after hanging up you may want to ask around and see if anyone you know has ever dealt with that lawyer. If you have your own lawyer you may want to ask him/her whom they may recommend that you go to in your situation. Lawyers know about others in the job and know the best way for you to get help is by using the one that specializes in whatever the need is. If you don’t have access to a computer you can do a copyright lawyer search by using a phone book. Look up lawyers inside the yellow pages and find one that specializes in the area you need, whether it is copyright laws, infringement or intellectual property. You may want to call several different lawyers and get a feel for which one could best represent you. Finding information has become easier since we have the internet, many people also fall under the idea that because there is so much information they don’t need to do a copyright lawyer search when the time comes. They basically get as much information they can find and use that in court. This doesn’t always work; sometimes the other side has a good lawyer and knows more tricks than you do. Which only leaves you footing a very big bill, don’t make this mistake…hire a lawyer.

US Copyright Lawyer What can a US Copyright Lawyer Do for You that Others Can’t? First a US copyright lawyer can help anyone that is in the United States, they know the laws of the land and the best ways to fight them. A US Copyright Lawyer is here to protect you. That’s right I said YOU, not the neighbor down the road, or someone that lives in the next country but YOU. A US copyright lawyer is there to help you actually file a copyright, advise you and to help you get back what was once yours and sue someone. If you are an American or someone currently living in the United States you will be able to hire a US lawyer, however if you reside out of the states there may be restrictions. In the internet world copyright issues are becoming a big thing and having a US Copyright lawyer behind you can definitely help if you need to fight against someone stealing your work. Copyright lawyers must stay current in all the recent rulings dealing with copyright issues, which means they know their job. Don’t just stick with a lawyer you already had because you’ve used them before. They may have been great at your car accident or your divorce but for copyright issues, you need a lawyer that deals with them. A US copyright attorney can also help you in retrieving money even if you never filed the copyright until after it was stolen or online. This can get a bit tricky when it comes time to prove it though, however if you have a good lawyer this shouldn’t be a problem. A US copyright lawyer will be able to help you copyright any work that you may have, it does cost $20 to file a paper to get the copyright on your work. This does not mean that there is a one time fee of $20 and all your work is safe, actually you must do this with all your work. You are paying per piece, but in the long run if you need to sue someone for using your content they can end up paying $35,000. A US copyright lawyer can help you with this if you live in the United States and the case happened in the states, technically they could help even if it happened internationally but things get a bit more expensive when this happens. Your US copyright lawyer may have already dealt with people stealing content, or maybe celebrity pictures. Recently a big name celebrity had her pictures leaked on the internet, she sued the people that were spreading them and it suddenly stopped. All those websites that had the pictures on them were asked politely to take them down since they were copyrighted and they were gone. That’s what a good US copyright lawyer will do; he/she will be able to prove their case because they know the law. They will have to show proof of when something was taken, said, or documented. In the case of pictures, she was able to show that she had the proofs and that there was no agreement for anyone to use them. Copyright laws have been changing since 1976; however it changes as our technology advances. Lawyers and judges know our needs and are learning every day how to protect them and in order to do that laws are passed and the copyright laws are updated. Granted laws may be different in other countries but the chances are if it happens on US soil, the best representative would be a US copyright lawyer because they have been studying ever since law school.