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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!

Finishing a Masterpiece and Getting it on the Shelves (how to get a book published) Writing a book is a monumental task in itself. The process is long, drawn out and grueling. Even if you thoroughly enjoy writing and writing on the same subject for an extended period of time, you will no doubt be exhausted by the writing of a book. Getting that book published, however, will take even more time and effort than producing the thing in the first place. Are you thinking about writing a book? Have you already written one and now are just wondering how to get a book published? If you are, read on. Here are a few tips on how to get from the starting line to triumphantly crossing the finish line. Writing that Book When starting out writing your book, before you are ready to consider how to get a book published, you may already feel daunted. To write a successful book you need to start out with some original thought. You probably have plenty of originality, but you may have trouble getting your ideas into a coherent flow of information that will be digestible by the general public. The first step is to create a book skeleton. You need to organize your thoughts into a progression of chapters. If your book will be non-fiction, start with a table of contents. Write chapter headings and sub-headings. You will automatically know that you’ll need an introductory chapter, but you should probably leave the content of your introduction for the last step. Organize your chapters so that they build upon one another. The more headings that you can brainstorm to begin with, the easier it will be to fill in your book with a series of short articles that flow into one another. If your writing will be fiction, you will need more of a storyboard. You will need to create cause and effect as well as character sketches. To make your story coherent your characters will need events to react to. Their reactions should become predictable as your readers get into the story. You may need to create some situations for your characters just for the purpose of introducing their traits to the reader. These are very general guidelines about how to begin constructing your book. The actual process will be much more involved as you move closer to finding out how to get a book published. Even after you are finished with the bulk of the content, your goal is still a ways off into the future. Getting to Print The next step in how to get a book published is finding a publisher. There are resources at your local library that will let you know who will be the best candidate for publishing the kind of writing that you do. After a series of queries and correspondence with the potential publishers you may get an invitation to send your manuscript. Then the work begins. A publisher is very experienced in finding books that are marketable. He knows what it will take to get your book to sell. Don’t be offended when his editors tears your writing apart. If they are doing that, you can enjoy the fact that you are on the road to a published book. Expect to enter into a close relationship of compromise and change with the editor as you rework and rework what you have already so painstakingly written. When you are finished you will have a readable and clean and correct manuscript ready for print. The road to getting a book published is a long one, but well worth the effort. Trust yourself, and trust the publisher to create a beautiful masterpiece. Don’t be discouraged if several publishers are not interested in your book. You may have to just keep the first few for yourself, and then again, they may eventually get accepted. Good luck and enjoy the process.

Copyright lawyer salary The Going Rate of a Copyright Lawyer Salary A copyright lawyer salary all depends on how many cases he/she gets. Your average copyright lawyer makes a little under $300 per case, but that is just to register a copyright. Which means that depending on what they are doing for you will determine how much it’ll cost. Now many of these lawyers will offer to have you fill out an online application, which means they aren’t getting paid by hour so it doesn’t hurt your check book. You get what you need done and they go on to the next client. Keep in mind if you are only needing someone to file your copyright this may be a good way to go but in order to protect you from various other types of copyrights you may want to hire a professional. Yes, it’ll cost you a lot more money but you will have everything you need. Don’t be afraid to approach a firm because a copyright lawyer salary seems high, many of them will work with you on payments. Not everyone is rich and they know it, they also know it is the working man that helps them stand tall. After you hear everything that goes into paying the copyright lawyer salary you may wonder why they don’t get paid more. . A copyright lawyer salary is basically just like any regular lawyers, it is all figured out by what they do and what they charge. Every item that they do for you has a set fee, whether it is filing a copyright for you, looking up information, going in to court for you, etc. Some lawyers may even charge by the hour, find out before spending two hours discussing what your problem is. Maybe there is a way you can shorten your story a little. You may find out that your lawyer charges you for him/her going out of town. These little things can add up to big numbers for your lawyer, however you normally know how much after your first visit. If you have any questions on the cost of something ask, don’t be shy it is your money you are spending after all. After reviewing the numbers he gives you, shop around and see what another copyright lawyer may charge you and stick with the one you think is best. Remember best doesn’t mean the copyright lawyer salary that is the highest amount, which can just mean they like to charge huge fees. If you are someone that is actually thinking of pursuing the copyright lawyer field make sure you are up-to-date on all the new laws of copyrighting, so much has changed in the last few years. Now will you be able to live comfortably with a copyright lawyer salary that just depends on you and how many cases you’d be able to pull in. I say finish that law degree or start taking classes in it, there is always someone needing a copyright lawyer. Why not let it be you? Now if you don’t want to hire a copyright lawyer because you’ve heard about the copyright lawyer salary, you may try doing it yourself and be able to save over 75% of what it would normally cost for an attorney. Keep in mind that by hiring a professional you may be saving yourself a headache down the road. While a copyright lawyer salary may seem extreme it is only because they know what they are doing and they are helping you. Which has more experience in the field, you or a copyright lawyer? Now which do you think will make sure you are protected? Remember it is your money that helps keep up that copyright lawyer salary, without you he/she wouldn’t get paid.