Nem5 Web Maggic Awards Program Copyright Tutorial for Judging Staff This page deals with copyright law and its impact on judging at this program. This is how Nem5 Awards Program will review copyright issues for awards. Copyright laws need to be followed by every site that applies. Images will be used as the example here. However images are NOT the only thing that can be copyrighted. Copyright law includes written work, music, and much more. To get a complete idea of what may be protected by copyright law please read this site... http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/ US Code as of: 01/05/99 Sec. 102. Subject matter of copyright: In general (a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories: (1) literary works; (2) musical works, including any accompanying words; (3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music; (4) pantomimes and choreographic works; (5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works; (7) sound recordings; and (8) architectural works. (b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work. •    •    • No idea may be copyright protected, however any actual work done by another may not be used by anyone unless specific permission has been granted. This means that if an artist paints an image and the painting has a beautiful horse standing beside a pool, the image of the horse may not be taken from the original and placed into someone else's work without permission. If all rights are withheld no part of any image may be used in any manner by anyone. The owner of the copyright retains all rights to the image. If permission is granted to use an image where all rights were withheld the image may not be changed in any way including using only a portion of the image. The only time a site may use portions of an image is when no rights are withheld from the person who is "licensing/using" the copyrighted material. If no rights are withheld then the person using the image may do as they wish with it. •    •    • The original artist is not always the copyright owner. If the artist sells or gives away full exclusive rights to an image, the new owner has no obligation to note the original artist. Often an employee/artist of a company may draw an image as an employee. In this case, the company owns the copyright, NOT the employee/artist. It takes a special contract for an employee to retain rights to their work under conditions such as this. •    •    • In most cases copyrights are good for 75 YEARS AFTER the death of the original artist. It is safe to assume, in most cases, that any work done before 1930 is free of all copyright law and has become public property. It is wise to assume any work done after 1930 is still under restriction of the law and is not usable without permission. •    •    • Copyright ownership to all work MUST be noted on the page where the work resides. If it is not, the site owner gives the impression that the work is theirs. This is misleading and gives a false impression of ownership. Therefore, any image you KNOW belongs to another that is shown on a site and is not given credit on the page where it resides will be considered copyright violation. A credits page is not sufficient to cover this. A credit page may only be used when: 1) it is not possible to show credit where the work is seen, such as an image shown during a Flash animation; and 2) the user has a proper license or written letter of permission to credit and use the work in this manner. •    •    • Just because a site gives credit to the copyright owner does not mean they have been given permission to use the work. Many designers believe they may use any work they find as long as they show credit to the owner of that works copyright. This is not always true. The owner of the copyright has to give permission in one of several ways before the work may be used...Examples... Blanket permission - where public permission is granted to use the works. The owners terms of use must be complied with before the work may be used. If rights are withheld, and unless permission states clearly that rights are not withheld users may not change the work in any way. Exclusive use is granted to the person from the copyright owner. This means that ONLY the person given permission may use the material and in only the manner stated. All rights withheld - no change in any manner, including using portions of the work without the whole work, may be made. Some rights withheld - the only changes that may be made will be stated in writing by the owner of the copyright. No rights withheld - the person with permission may use the work in any manner they see fit. •    •    • The following are examples of work that will always be considered copyright violations and the site using them will NOT be granted any award, unless the site is owned by the copy holder: Cartoon characters, examples: Disney, Warner Bros., Pokemon, South Park, etc. CD, Album, Book covers or artwork used on them. Trademarked logos. MP3, RA, MIDI or other audio files. Movie posters. Screen shots from movies or TV shows. Stamps. Money, coins or bills. Complete works or the use of over 200 words of any literary work, this includes all parts from the same work, whether on one page or broken up and placed on many pages. Magazine covers, photos or stories. Blueprints of buildings or electronics, no matter the subject matter. Paintings, photography or graphics by artists known to withhold all rights and permission to use their work - Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell are very good examples of this. Fonts, programming, graphics known to be made by someone other than the site owner where rights are known to be withheld. Note: Allowances will be granted for works that are known to be offered by the copyholder for the purpose of linking or other web specific uses only if: 1) the work is used exactly as specified on the copyholder's site, 2) the work is linked to the copyholder's website and 3) credit to the copyholder is given with a link on the page where the work is seen. Proof of licensing to use works owned by others must be: 1) current and 2) must be included in the website showing the work, or 2a) sent by email with the application for award to Nem5 Awards Program, and 3) the work must be used only as specified in the license. •    •    • Any item used to present the news may not be copyright protected. •    •    • The idea is that if anyone uses anything that someone else created that may generate funds or recognition in any manner without the permission of the person/company that created it, that someone is violating the creators rights. •    •    • Since 1988 everything that is published is protected by copyright law the moment it is published. While it is nice to see copyright statements on every single page of every single site, copyright statements are not necessary if there is no work done by others on a site. Top of page.