Copyrights in Online Content

Copyrights in Online Content

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

Everyone is marketing his/her content online and most of the content is being developed using android apps and the latest tools of software on laptops. But it is a must to care about the legal framework of copyrights while creating and disseminating the content online. How to avoid copyrights and stay free from legal issues?

Writing Original Content

It is seen most of the time that people start copying and pasting content from others’ written articles and data. It can put people in trouble because the content which is taken from copy and paste may be copyrighted. In case, the content is taken from any other webpage, it is a must to give a reference to the page so that there is no copyright infringement.

Designing original images

It is common that google is used to download the available images on the internet. Whoever designed the image and put it online, is the real owner of the created image. The creative commons license is used to prove the ownership of the images without spending a single penny. It is a must to take permission from the real owner of any image is taken from the internet for using the written content.

Polite language without making criticisms

Always write after thinking twice about whether it will hurt the readers or not. In case, there are possibilities that people will feel hurt from reading the content, it is better not to upload it as an article. The statements should not only be grammatically correct but also be polite to win the heart of others. A person reading your content should enjoy the reading and learn new skills from it.

Facts should be right and accurate

Whatever is given in the content, should contain the facts taken from the trusted portals and websites either of Government or commercial organizations. Never take content whose source is doubtful. There are websites that are making everyone confused with giving wrong details and such details are also being changed at regular intervals. Beware of such data and never use such data in your original content.

Respect the Intellectual Rights of others on Copyrighted content

In this age of technology, everyone has the right to maintain intellectual rights on the content that originated from their mind. Innovation and creativity are art and not everyone is equipped with this art. The original author has copyrights, the exclusive right to use created original content for his/her own purpose. Everyone should respect the intellectual rights of others and take permission from others if it is required to use the same for his/her own purpose. The compositions of music are copyrighted by the persons who compose them. The books are copyrighted by the authors so that no one others can copy the content originally written by them. The images created by painters and games developed by the programmers are also copyrighted. If you are taking permissions and referring to the sources of others in the right way, then it is your respect for their copyrights.

The lawful way for using and transferring copyrights

Since the copyrights are inherent in everything which is originally created by a person, it is very difficult to get rights from others for using their copyrighted content in a lawful manner. One way is to organize surveys and get the information filled in various questions and then use it for own purpose, that is considered originally and since the respondents responded with their desire, there is no copyright of the respondents on their responses. Secondly, it is possible to have a license from the owner of the original copyrighted content, to use the content by paying him/her a royalty. Thirdly, the owner of the content may be hired and then asked to develop the original content for you; the content developed by an employee can be used by the employer.

Methods for protecting the original content on the Internet

Whenever the original content is used to upload as text on a webpage, the owner should add a copyright policy on the webpage and if the owner found anyone using his/her original content without permission, he/she should send a notice to such person, so that it should not happen again. It is worth knowing that an owner retains the copyrights on original content up to 60 years after his/her death.

No infringement if the content is used for some specific purposes

The people are worried about their life and content are written to inspire the people to be motivated and do good work; for this purpose, if any motivational content is used by any person, then it cannot be considered as an infringement, however, it is a must to give reference of the content (for example, courtesy of ‘original writer and source’). Secondly, in case, content is being used for academic purposes to educate others, cannot be considered as infringement if credit is given to the original author or owner of the content used. However, it is a must to ensure fair use of copyrighted material means the use of copyrighted material by someone should not negatively affect the earnings of the copyright owner and he/she should earn well instead of its use by anyone that is why it is required to refer.

Lawsuit of Pearson on Chegg

Recently, a popular company Chegg started its subscription study service which covered to have answers to the questions provided in the textbooks by paying $14.95 monthly. The questions were given in the textbook published by Pearson. On 13^th September 2021, Pearson filed a complaint in a court accusing Chegg of illegally giving answer sets to its textbook questions and it is his right to give the answer sets. Chegg answered that Pearson’s textbook copyrights do not grant it a monopoly over the right to solve an end-of-chapter problem. The details are available on this link - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/87974-chegg-responds-to-pearson-copyright-lawsuit.html

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license 

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

This content is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article is published on 23rd November 2021, and last updated on 21st November 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

More Articles

https://drlalitsetia.blogspot.com/p/new-articles-study-material-notes.html 

Tips for Effective Content Writing

Tips for Effective Content Writing

Freelancer Skills: 

Whenever any person decides to write something, he keeps in mind the scenario including the target audience, data already written on that issue, new updates in that area, and the significant points which will definitely help audience in improving their knowledge, skills, and exposure to that issue. However, it is very difficult to point out each and every tip for improving content writing but the following key points can be considered for effective content writing:

Key Points for Content Writing:

(i) Attractive Content:

The written text or content should be so attractive that one should not be able to skip that writing without reading completely.

(ii) Suitable to Target Audience:

The right target audience should be approached within right time and with right title of content. The content should not be much lengthy to communicate the most important points to the audience and tone of the sentences should create curiosity in the mind of readers.

(iii) Crispy with Flavor:

Crispy stuff may be added to enrich the flavor of written content but it should not change the sense of meaning to be communicated.

(iv) Edited Content:

Discarding information that does not quite appropriate, is known as editing. The editing of content should be done again and again until it becomes smooth in reading.

(v) Short Paragraphs:

Use of short paragraphs, bullet lists, and links also make the content more effective.

(vi) Appropriate Words Only:

Use of appropriate words may also make your content more effective. For example, instead of using ‘Indicate’, word ‘show’ can be used. Utilize, Facilitate, Obtain can be replaced with use, help, and get.

(vii) Write after doing Research:

Before writing content, the writer should have done research so that repetitive content should not be written with change in sense of writing; indeed the content should tell something different as per the need of target audience.

(viii) Deliver Key Message:

The content should be strictly designed to deliver a single key message and the whole stuff should be around that key message only.

(ix) References:

The sources of data should also be referred wherever required; so that readers can further read the content from the source of data. For example : read the article on Bone Bank.

Effective content writing is considered as critical as other skills of an individual and one must learn how to write effectively. The production of high-quality content can easily groom your personality and make you skilled for communicating properly. 

*Copyright © 2019 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

Kindly read the (i) Next Article: Amazing Tools for Editing Written Content

(ii) Previous Article: How Software Companies Made You A Product

(iii) More Articles: Groom The Personality