Introduction
Hi there, If you have been using Steemit for quite a bit, you may have noticed and realized that you need to learn a bit about copyright. Glad you came here, in this blog post you will get to know the most important information you need about Copyright so you know how you can prevent those demotivating down-votes and prevent plagiarism allegations. You will also learn how to properly credit the creator of a work that you'd like to use, even if you decide to credit work taken from platforms like Pixabay. After reading this -entire blog post you will know everything you need to start blogging on Steemit without breaking a sweat.
Educate yourself and fight plagiarism
Fighting plagiarism seems to be a huge issue worldwide. Tons of artists, creators and authors have worked hard to publish their work online. It's easy to just copy/paste these works, and use them for your own purposes. It's like finding a wallet with money in it, we might consider ourselves lucky to find that wallet and we are tempted to keep the money. We call it stealing if you keep the money, and it is expected that you should report it and return the money to its owner. Keeping the money is the same as finding great quality content on the world wide web and using it as it is your own. Hate to break it to you but you're simply stealing. It is damaging the creator in many ways, especially when you do not give credit, and even then it is wrong to use it without permission. You could even get sued for using their work without permission.
Copyright is a grey area for a lot of people and content creators mostly realize that. Although it can be tiresome to tell the same story over and over again, and you might be the fuse that makes us explode since our patience does not last forever. To prevent copyright allegations, all you can do is educate yourself. This may seem to be a boring topic to read about, but it will be beneficial for you in the long term.
What is Copyright?
Anything you see on the world wide web (www) is likely being copyrighted. Without owning the "copy"-rights you do not have permission (rights) to copy, duplicate, change/adjust, spread or publish the work that you have found. Whenever someone creates something like music, text, videos and photographs, Copyright is by law automatically allocated to that creator and only that person owns the exclusive rights to their work and can choose what to do with it. The creator can customize these licenses to their own or adjust to their client needing. These rights are described in different varieties of licenses that only the creator can grant to another person. By granting rights to another person, the creator still owns the work, unless he/she is transferring his rights to another person.
Earning money on Steemit.
Because you are earning money on Steemit, you will need a commercial license for -any work that you are going to use for your blog posts. The most common and easiest to use license to publish work that has a commercial purpose is the CC0 1.0 Universal license. These works are also known as "Public Domain" where the creator has waived their exclusive rights to the public and made the photograph available for anyone, in any way. This means you can also use these works for Commercial Use (earning money on Steemit).
What is Commercial Use?
If you're planning to publish work that isn't yours, you would need a license where it states that you can use this photograph for Commercial Use. Even if you earn $ 0.00 for a blog post, you still need this license, since the purpose of publishing the photograph is earning money, whether it is certain or uncertain that you would even earn a penny.
Creative Commons license
Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that releases seven various licenses. Authors can share their copyrighted work, and give specific rights to their work. This allows their work to be copied, published, and sometimes be used for commercial use. Authors always keep the copyright of their intellectual property, unless they waive -all rights to their work. The licenses you want are CC0, BY, BY-SA and BY-ND. These licenses allow you to publish these works for commercial use. Keep in mind that most work requires you to credit the author properly, and some work may not be modified at any circumstances.
How to avoid plagiarism?
Anything you see on the web can be copyrighted. In most cases, you cannot use it on Steemit. So, how do you avoid plagiarism and possible downvotes?
1. Paraphrase.Whenever you would like to use information that you have searched for on the web, all you have to do is format the same information in your own words. Even when you find small phrases useful, do not copy them, either reword them, or rewrite it entirely. This can be a time-consuming process, but it is worth all the effort!
2. Quoting.
If you would like to use a quote, make sure that you use that quote exactly as how it has been written by that person and refer to the author. Limit the length and number of quotations. Use your own words and rewrite sections of paragraphs if you find them useful. You should never quote entire paragraphs or section of an article. Also, whenever you are quoting someone, this needs the mandatory quotation marks ("Quote" - Author).
3. Photographs.
There is a high chance that there is copyright embedded in the image that you would like to use for your blog post. You would need to purchase a license in most cases and credit the photographer. In all cases of uncertainty, do not use a photograph you have seen on Google. Try to get contact with the photographer. However, there are a lot of CC0 (Creative Commons) licenses available on the web that you can use without permission, and for commercial use.
4. Videos.
Videos that are on YouTube mostly contain plagiarism. YouTube is fighting hard to get rid of the stolen videos. Only upload videos to YouTube, DTube or Dlive that you have full ownership and or full rights to. There are CC0 licensed videos available that you can use freely, for any medium, for commercial use. Downloading videos from YouTube that aren't yours and that you put on @Dtube or @Dlive is strictly forbidden and considered as plagiarism. The easiest way to prevent plagiarism with videos is simply creating your own videos, or use CC0 1.0 Universal Licensed videos. Make sure to credit the creator of these clips in your description if you have to.
5. Music.
Basically, everything that is inside a song is copyrighted. You have to re-create everything yourself or find yourself free samples to work with. Because even old samples, from old songs, are copyrighted. Kanye West, for example, has covered many old songs, and has been accused of plagiarising other peoples work (He got sued for 2.5 million).
6. Referencing.
Referencing the right source is the most important way to avoid plagiarism allegations when you use CC0 1.0 Universal Licensed work. Be aware that Google is not a source, the people who have created the work hold the exclusive right to their work, and automatically own all rights of that source (work) whenever they have created it. They can only provide you with the source that you need and is sometimes hard to find. Always credit the creator and link the work to where you have found it. Make sure whenever you publish work on Steemit, the work is licensed and is available for Commercial Use.
7. Architecture.
Now, this topic is little understood since. Anything that has been created, especially landmarks, may contain copyright. This means you cannot use images of these landmarks without having the permission of the designer. The Eiffel tower is one of the most discussed topics about architecture and copyright infringement. While the copyright on the Eiffel tower itself has been removed, the lights on the Eiffel tower, however, do contain copyright. Work containing landmarks that you have found on-line needs a better understanding and are higher valued by its creator. In most cases the photographer needs permisssion to photograph a landmark and sometimes also for recognizable interior design.
Purchasing a license
Purchase a license from a creator. All you have to do is to get in contact with the creator and ask how much they charge you for using that work. After purchasing a license which allows you to use the work, you still need to credit the creator. And why is that? Well, if you don't credit the creator, how are we supposed to know? Also, it is mandatory, unless the creator agrees to not being credited.
The time of a license can be limited. Keep this in mind because your blog posts on Steemit are stuck in the blockchain, however, the images that are uploaded to Steemit are hosted by 3rd hosting parties, which makes it very difficult for us to manually delete these photographs after 7 days. It might not be rewarding to buy a limitless license, so you can publish it once and forget about it. It would be best to discuss the posibilities with the creator and explain that you only have 7 days to earn money.
How do I credit the creator?
The proper way to credit work that you would like to use is to mention the name of the creator or their business name, the name of the license (CC0 Creative Commons for example) and add a link to the work. The creator either has their work published and distributed on platforms that release licenses for them or it is available on their own website.
When you use work from websites like Pixabay (CC0 1.0 Universal Licensed work), you do not need to credit at all. But you can show appreciation to the author by mentioning and linking to his/her profile on Pixabay (for example). Crediting only Pixabay is -not crediting the creator at all, but actually a promotion for the Pixabay platform. If you are uncertain about a work that you would like to use, do not publish the work. It either has to be licensed under CC0 1.0, CC-BY 4.0, CC-BY-SA 4.0 or CC-BY-ND 4.0 (We discuss these licenses later in this blog post).
©2018 - X P O S E D - [ source ]
Why should you credit the author (even if you don't have to)?
Creating work can take up a lot of time. Most photographers/content-creators who offer their work free to use do this without getting any compensation for it. By naming and crediting the author, you can help them by getting more jobs and getting their name out there. By linking to their website, you will boost their Google SEO ranking, this might not differ much, but if an image has been used 1000's of times, this can contribute a lot to the author. You're basically helping them to create more free and awesome work for you to use.
In my opinion, you should always give credit to the author who has produced work for free. Whether it is required or not. By doing this, you are showing appreciation and respect to the work produced by the author. It will help them to create a name for themselves, and people who are interested in hiring the author can get easier in touch with the author.
What licenses can you use on Steemit?
Works that fall under the CC0, BY, BY-SA and BY-ND license, are released licenses that make it possible for you to publish work on Steemit. These are the only licenses that allow you to use the work for commercial purposes unless you buy a license straight from the author. CC0 licensed work does not require credits, while the other three require a mandatory and proper naming. The BY-ND license does not allow you to adjust or modify the work, this means that you can't even crop the photograph.
CCO 1.0 Universal License
You are free to: Do anything that you would like to with the photograph. CC0 1.0 Universal Licensed works are Public Domain, therefore these works are usable for anyone.
CC BY 4.0 International License
You are free to: Copy, redistribute the photograph in any medium or format, remix, transform for any purpose. You must: Give proper credits to the creator, provide a link to the license and mention any adjustments made to the photograph.
CC BY-SA 4.0 International License
You are free to: Copy, redistribute the photograph in any medium or format, remix, transform for any purpose. You must: Give proper credits to the creator, provide a link to the license and mention any adjustments made to the photograph. You must: If you have made any adjustments to the photograph, this photograph falls automatically under the same license, free to use for anyone else that would like to use it.
CC BY-ND 4.0 International License
You are free to: Copy, redistribute the photograph in any medium or format, for any purpose. You must: Give proper credits to the creator, provide a link to the license. You may not: Adjust the photograph and publish it anywhere on the web.
Links to CC0 1.0 Universal licensed work.
So many rules! But don't you worry, we got you covered. These websites all provide CC0 1.0 Universal Licensed work that you can use here on Steemit.
Easy step-by-step guide.
So, you have written a blog post and you want to use work created by others. What to do, what to do. We use Pixabay as an example since this is the most commonly used platform to find CC0 1.0 licensed images.
Step 1. Finding a photograph.
I will search for "Copyright" and try to see if I can find images that I find good enough to use in this post.
Legend
- The Creator
- The license (CC0)
- Download option
- Preview
Step 2. Publishing the photograph.
Now that I have decided to use this image and checked who the creator is and what license is attached to it I have everything I know to publish and use this image.
- The Creator: PDPics
- The license: CC0
- Date of submission: 2014 (if you scroll down on the page, you can find the date of submission)
This is the easiest, and fastest way to properly source a photograph that you're going to use from Pixabay.
Breakdown of a proper creditation.
- © Copyright symbol with the date of submission/upload.
- What is the license?
- Where did you find it?
- Who took it?
© 2014 - CC0 Creative Commons - [ source ] - Photo by PDPics
But, if you truly would like to credit an author for using his/her work that is CC0 licensed, you can simply Google the author's name, check if the author has an own website and change the "by PDPics" by applying a hyperlink to their website. To set the focus and attention to the author, you can change "PDPics on Pixabay" into "[ source ]". It would look like this.
Have you found plagiarism?
Keep in mind that not everyone knows about copyright and how bad it is. Downvoting is a way to fight plagiarism, but educating people is even more valuable! Share this blog with them instead. We made an image for you that you can use and to make your comment stand out. Join our Discord channel and submit your findings. We will take a look and up-vote your comment for your hard work.
Copy HTML Code Below
[a href="https://steemit.com/photography/@xposed/let-s-talk-about-copyright">[img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmXUEPCMDHcgtRgkC7XkARPEhtuoxJnAPxs1EEj2aEzRMN/learn-more-about-copyright-xposed.png"/> [/a>
Replace "[" with "<".
us for more photography related content, or you can buy us a 
.
It's great to see this. This means there is still risk of violating copyright laws even if we credit the source. I have also seen news sites where the picture was taken and credited from another. Sometimes, it makes a long chain and if there's violation or improper use along the way, it would be quite a process for the creator to trace it.
Happy to see you find it useful @hiroyamagishi, we tried to keep the post as compact and as understandable as possible. Copyright is a grey area and doesn't seem to have fully exploited the depths of context and discussion yet.
Newspapers often steal other peoples work and would love to pay with "exposure", which is the mandatory credit towards the creator of the work. This reason for this, in my belief, because of the rise of talented amateur photographers who did not receive proper education about Copyright law, who were happy to get their name exposed, and occurred during the global financial crisis.
There are often people who think content should be used freely, at any time. These people do not value the time spent by others and cannot see the bigger picture what it takes to create an image that is not just simply appealing to the eye. Luckily the law has given creators protection, that whenever the creator has created a work, it automatically is protected by copyright law. This would let creators decide on their own if this work can be freely used by the public or not.
Google and Tiny-pic has developed their reverse-image search techniques which makes it easy for the creator to trace their work published online. Also good implementation of EXIF-data can help in tracing their work.
Start a blog post about it.
We would be happy to debate this matter in a dedicated blog post about that topic, preferable written by yourself based on your own experiences.
This blog post is purely about educating the current nature of Copyright, not to discuss personal opinions/loopholes/specific country based laws or whatsoever. We think understanding copyright is more important than to deny it and trying to counter it, as we simply cannot change this overnight. If you wish to contribute to this blog post, rephrase your opinion in a question and we are happy to try to give you an answer that fits.
Currently, the contribution you have made so far, seem to be cries where you demand a different approach on Copyright from your point of view. You simply cannot change law, nor influence the current understanding of Copyright with pushing your thoughts about this matter and expect that the law bends to you whenever you would like to. It is as it is. It was as it was. If you want change, file it to the right people, we are certainly not.
At this current state, creators that are not on this platform, seek federal guidance to start the procedure to send Cease and Desist letters regarding their Copyrighted work, which is damaging the name of Steemit and would slow down its potential grow as this issue grows.
And again, all created work is protected by copyright by law upon creation. This does not mean it is protected for financial compensation for these 'damages' by default. You need to be a registered business in some countries, you need to register a license in other countries and sometimes proof of creation is enough to be illegible for financial compensation.
If you want to talk about logical underlying thoughts about copyright, simply start a blog post and invite people that you deem interesting to reply to.
Hi @baah, please Google "Statute of Anne". Now, unless you still would like to think that paying the bills with salt is still possible, please re-consider the era you currently live in and come back to earth, with us, preferable by plane and not on a horse.
The creators of their own work now have the choice to waive their rights, to make it available to the public, for free, to make sure that that work doesn't milk the people for their benefit of sharing the idea/concept.
I would like to point out to you that this blog post is about explaining the current state of Copyright, not about the history of it. So I ask you to stay on topic as you are spreading personal confusion about the current laws on Copyright and how we are supposed to work with- and understand that law.
Looking forward to more history tutoring in a blog post that you have created. I would gladly join you there.
Nobody is trying to monopolize art. The typical wish is at least that the art created by them is not used for commercial use without a permission.
Art isn't being monopolized. Anyone can create art if they want without being attacked by artists.
I will help you if you vote for me. In this way everyone can help by voting for all. Waiting for you
How is that going to help him?
Informative facts!really very crucial elements regarding copyright.I also try my best not to have these copyright in my work on steemit and strive for creating my own creations.
Hi @angli, you're welcome and we are happy to see you on our XPOSED channel, we will try to inspire and motivate Steemians to create and publish original/unique work.
I also try my best to bring something new and unique....and thanks for motivation...
A thorough and well-documented post on the subject which will be roundly ignored by all the parasites currently engaged in sucking the reward-pool dry.
I wish it wasn't so, but honestly the tools to prevent this kind of thing happening are either deficient, overloaded or totally absent. Its a harsh truth, I know, but unfortunately it has to be said.
This ship is sinking unless there's some real change around here.
So if I am an artist publishing my original work that has been inspired by a real picture and then painted by myself, is this in copyright violation if the subject I am painting is unaware I did a portrait of them? Does that make sense?
For that matter, you would need a permission from the creator (unless the photograph can be built upon) and the portraited.
This is incredibly useful and informative, thank you so much! I was wondering what you think the parameters for cover songs are? I am a musician and i write and record my own material but I love to do a cover song too! How do you think copyright affect the covers I do? do i need to contact the label and ask?
Thanks for sharing! A link to your post was included in the Steem.center wiki page about Copyright. Thanks and good luck again!
Although your article is well written and contains many useful facts, you have overlooked one thing:
Just to read your article my computer had to make a copy of it.
In the Age of the Internet copyright is antiquated.
To reinforce this thought, remember that a rule is useless unless it can be enforced.
Thanks again for the info.
This is an amazing article btw, stunningly well put together explanation of how to avoid copyright issues whilst using this platform, but also helping the original creators get the credit they deserve. However I must be a dingus, I am a video art creator, and also make music; so heres my example.
I created the music entirely by myself HOWEVER the music video I cut up and re edited to fit the narrative of my song would this be considered copyright issues? I uploaded the video to youtube and did not get a copyright strike (even after months of being there) and for additional information, I am currently at an Art Foundation course at the UK that is covered by an educational clause in copyright law that allows me certain leeway when its comes to using other artists work if it is for educational purposes and a factor of my FMP (which it was)
TLDR; your input would be massively helpful as I want to promote and get a following on this platform but want to do it strictly by the book
MANY MANY THANKS BIG LOVE FROM THE UK <3
Hey @blockchainyouth, thank you! Glad that this blog post was educational for you! About your question: If the work of the video is free to use, for commercial purposes you're good to go. If you have purchased a license to use this work for commercial use, you're good to go. If you have ripped the video from the creator (or any other uploader), modified it, and have placed your own (copyrighted) audio channel underneath it, you're plagiarizing -if- you publish the work for commercial use. You're stating that the contents of the video can/may be used only for educational purposes, therefor it should not be published on Steemit, since anything we publish here is automatically seen as commercial use. Your best bet to publish this on Steemit would be using work that can be used for commercial use.
CC0 licensed videos on Pexels
CC0 licensed videos on Pixabay
AGHHH YES VERY TRUE I FORGOT THATS WHAT FORM TUTOR SAID, that I could have even have it on a giant projector in St.Pancreas but if it is used to generate revenue as you said......Okay so my best bet, is to publish song, with accompanying visuals that I have created and not use the original playboi carti video; and see thats the thing, its not hard to create these visuals yourself and enjoy the knowledge it is 100% I think that human laziness and a lack of motivation come into play here so no thank you for your insight I am determined to do this properly.
Yes, exactly! If you need some tips on how to create motion graphics I think VideoCopilot did some cool tutorials. But I believe you know how to create that already.
I replied to @blockchainyouth in regards to same but want to point out to you that there is a "decline payout" option you can use while posting to Steem blockchain - this would be appropriate for non-commercial/educational usage rights
Hey just want to build on @xposed's comment - you can actually publish a post here on Steem blockchain using the "decline payout" option - this would cover you as far as the commercial intent, so if you want to publish your educational posting here you can do that with decline payout if there is a question of usage rights being allowed for non-commercial/educational use.
I try to do a good job and get images from pexel or pixabay, I could have still sourced better. Thank you for pointing that out. I will try to do better at this. Upvote for useful info
Hi @drpuffnstuff, please understand that you do not have to credit work that fall licensed under a CC0 1.0 Creative Commmons International License. On Steemit, it can also be more rewarding for you since you will make it easier for Curators to find the source and CC0 license. Despite that, you also show respect and appreciation to the creator who has created the work.
I wish I had found this post earlier! I’m very heartened to see someone else standing up for copyright work and also for PROPER accreditation to the artists! I have written quite a bit about this in the past, but you have managed to gain a much bigger audience than I ever did! Well done!! I will continue to write about it now and again, because it is my dream to see copyright infringement dealt with by the Steemit community!
Thanks for the very helpful article. This is a difficult subject and will make me think more about how and what I post. I have found many of my articles on sites all over the web which I have not given permission to. I just shrug it off. Such is life. However, not everybody is so relaxed about this important issue.
As a photographer, I wanted to thank you for this post, that's very important and I really hope that nobody will try to use the pictures I'm going to post on this network...
Very detailed explaination of issues all content creators must deal with when sharing original material on social media.
As a photograher and a collector of old images, I would like to ask your opinion on images that are author-less or anonymous.
As an example, some years ago I purchased at auction a collection of Kodachrome slides, some of which contain historical images. I plan to release some of them on Steemit, (with a photographer unknown credit) only because they should see the light of day having being buried from the light of day fifty years.
What is your opinion on this type of usage as I possess the original slide?
Conversely, I also have in my possession a folio of prints from a long-defunct Russian photo agency containing a cross section of Russian culture, political and lifestyle images. I am less certain about the usage of these images. They are so interesting.
Could you please comment?
Regards, RT Simon
Thank you for taking the time to make this post. Plagiarism is a real issue especially in the age of the Internet when anything can be shared in an instance!
Excellent! Definitely deserving of a resteem. This needs to spread. As people grow and start earning money, copyright infringement WILL become an issue! It's just a matter of time.
hi my name is @brampu my newcomer in steemit, i hope the seni steemit can teach me and give the best solution
Appreciate it @coincussion!
I will help you if you vote for me. In this way everyone can help by voting for all. Waiting for you
Keep waiting, lol
Can anyone answer? I have written my own songs. Can I just post them straight to my steemit or Dtube channel? Or do I have to secure a copyright first for my songs before I should post? Also can I post my written songs to both Dtube and Youtube?
It's really nice of you to write about plagiarism. About a week ago, I was online and somewhat found an online platform who copy and paste my articles. I have tried to track them down, but there were no back links, contact details on their page. It really hurts, and I am still finding a way of getting in touch with them.
I think it's important to point out that simply crediting a photographer is NOT OK for just any photo you find. It has to be Creative Commons. As a photographer I've spent a lot of time chasing down people making money off my photos and they think it's OK because they've credited me.
Hey @kieranstone, from a photographers perspective I can def. agree with this. However, there are people who simply do not know how copyright works. The most beneficial way for both parties is to educate and propose the plagiarist to purchase a license for the normal fee, before adding extra fees. This will make your lawsuit, if it ever turns out to become one, more realistic. In the defense of a plagiarist they could simply tell that they 'honestly' did not know and that they would like to have an opportunity to pay the normal price whatever you would charge. I have a list of different types of licenses plus prices on my business website, that are usually very well received by the judge or lawyer whenever I have to point this out that it is clearly visible and stated on my website. Even after purchasing a license I 'demand' credit under my work, unless agreed differently. I know this is frustrating, but try to keep your cool and see it as an opportunity to get paid for your work without spending too much time into court. Focusing on creating more awesome photographs is so much more rewarding ;-). Wish you all the best of luck.
The few people that I have got in touch with have paid me what I asked for, which was no different from a standard licence few for what they used the image for. They like to argue about the price and I say "I'm not going to negotiate the price after you've already stolen my image". Another thing is "ignorance is not innocence". I am a strong advocate for Photographers rights and provide information in my podcast too.
Thank you for writing your post too as the more people are aware of these things the better off the industry will be. I have resteemed :)
Copyright automatically applies to any photo I take. I don't need to register it. Licencing of images can be 1000's of dollars per image depending on the use so it's worth chasing people if they've taken it without consent. It doesn't happen often but even once is too much.
same here! and we put so much effort into this kind of work... what do you think: how much is video like this worth?
Contact me @ discord, delete your clip for now(!). Ill explain.
If people stopped stealing images we wouldn't have to waste our time. But some people are too lazy themselves and think they can grab anything they find on the internet. It's like taking someones car just because it's parked in a public area. People know that is wrong but they'll happily take intellectual property from someone
Very nice post, I think is important that everyone knows this topic that we live surrounded every day
Thanks for the information this is a very big help for me, not only in me but also for everyone to know.
This should read by every newcomer to Steemit! Thanks for the info :-)
Thank you very much @simonhamelin, we have tried our best to cover Copyright for all members on Steemit. Please considering resteeming this post to spread the word.
I didn't even know resteeming was a thing, I'll do it now :-)
I will help you if you vote for me. In this way everyone can help by voting for all. Waiting for you
This one get's you a spam flag, enjoy.
Lol! Thnx erodedthoughts!
Your article is very interesting and gives us many ideas on how to avoid plagiarism and respect the intellectual prooiety of others
Thank you for the useful infos. I learned some new things from this. For example I didn't know anything about purchasing licenses before. Since I usually use my own pictures and videos I didn't get to that yet. But I have a question: if I write a post referring to for example a YouTube video can i post the link with source and creator or is this harming the copyright too?
Yep, you cannot use other peoples work without permission unless it is CC0 Licensed. Keep in mind that you're on a platform that requires a commercial use license, whether you get paid or not. Hope this helps.
This is clearly explained! good work, many people does not understand very well what is the copyright, but this words help to get the information
This is such an informative post that can help so many people not just on Steemit, but with life in general because we have to deal with copyright issues on a daily basis. I appreciate the time you have taken to make such an in-depth article on the subject to lay everything out so clearly for people. I have already learned so much just talking to you, but this is beyond my expectations. Great work. I hope that this gets the exposure that it deserves.
Hey @derangedvisions, good to see you here! Thank you very much for your kind words and your support. Talk soon! Your resteem will help spreading this to the right people, so thanks again.
I will help you if you vote for me. In this way everyone can help by voting for all. Waiting for you
Keep waiting for my vote, but @abusereports will be visiting you soon with some votes you may not like too much. You will learn quickly that comment spamming isn't the best way to get noticed here.
This definitely deserves a resteem. In college we used a plagiarism checker for assignments. It would be great to see Steemit integrate a checker into their platform.
Hey @whytheory, thank you for resteeming! Integrating a checker would be great, but hard to keep up with and there are different factors that we need to keep in mind as authors/creators sell their work on Shutterstock for example. Love the idea.
good info
Great education and training ;)
knowledge is power
Excelente información @xposed , sobre todo para los que estamos iniciando el camino en steemit. Gracia!! SALUDos
I will help you if you vote for me. In this way everyone can help by voting for all. Waiting for you
This is really helpful. As a blogger/steemer, people can understand about copyright because this article. Thanks for making us more knowledgeable.
Hi @e-bon, great that you find it useful.
I'm assuming your research was motivated by this?
hehe
We are first going to touchdown the basics of content topics, before we get to the real deal. That post is for future references. I do drink a lot of coffee though.
Thanks for sharing! All my work is 100% my own, I like it to be genuine. Thanks for the detail analysis though 💯🐒
Mehn.....
You all needed to see how i paid attention to read this post. I even brought out my jotter to jot points down. Many, including me is guilty after reading this post. Let's respect people's brain work and do the right thing. The change needs to start with me.... Thanks @xposed for this wonderful unveiling
Appreciate your time and effort to put this together! very informative and give me the comfort of knowing my limitations.
Definitaly a follower!
I thought I knew everything about copyright--but as I get older, I realize you never know everything. I've been blogging and writing books for a while. I'm usually fastidious about copyright, to the point of tedium. But blogging for nonprofit or writing educational books (my sort) operates under a different set of rules. It's good to keep in mind the commercial aspect of Steemit when crediting work. I usually use Wikimedia Commons for images, because there the license status is clearly laid out. And, as an author, I like to respect the work of others who create. However... you made a few fine points, about landmarks, for example, that were enlightening. There's so much material we can use legitimately. I'm sure I can liven my posts without crossing lines. Knowing where those lines are, though, makes it easier to stay within them. I've resteemed. Good info.
Hi @agmoore, if we would know everything already, life would be a boring place. I earlier got the question from @erodedthoughts on how to cite a book cover and found it interesting that it could be rather difficult to obtain the name of the creator of the artwork that is usually shown on the cover.
How do you state the publication of citing your books? Or how would you rather get your citation/credit on your book?
I'm quite generous with allowing use. Since my books are mostly educational, if people credit me, I allow them to use information as long as they note the name of the book and that I am the author. I would be upset to find information had been lifted from my books without permission or acknowledgment, though. I self-publish so have complete control of the process. Also design my own covers, except for one book. I gladly give credit to the artist who designed that cover, Brian Burak. He was an art student at the time and charged me $20. I hope he gets better rates today :).
This is really good information. I do have a question: the picture you used says "no attribution required", does this mean that we don't have to credit the author of the picture?
Yeah a CC0 license does give you permission to use without attribution, but as @xposed here mentions it is still nice to give attribution if you can even in that case - it is an easy way to support a content creator that is putting free use content out there.
Thanks for the swift response! With your help and the help of @xposed I will take the time to make sure the proper people get credit for their work.
Also, buy crediting the work properly, you make it a lot easier for curators that consider to curate your post. Sourcing and using work that can be used for commercial use can be motivating for a curator to up-vote your post. In this case, it is beneficial in three ways :-)
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Hi @mrcoolizade, thanks for tuning in. When you see an image that says "No Attribution Required" you need to check if this image has been licensed under the CC0 1.0 Creative Common International License (Even if stated otherwise, you want to be sure and not rely on other peoples findings). If this is the case, you can do whatever you want with it. Even though this is not required, I do highly suggest to properly source it and credit the creator. Curators and people can see where you have found the image easier and are more likely to up-vote your content.
Thank you for that prompt response! I gave credit in my first couple blog posts but saw people were not crediting pictures that had "no attribution required" so I followed along with the crowd. After reading this however, and given that the effort is really minimal, I will start to credit every source that isn't myself. Thanks again!
You're more than welcome. Always investigate yourself if the work you are using is licensed for Commercial Use. For example: Users may have purchased a license directly from the creator.
How about protecting your own creations on steemit? Is there a method too? Kind regards and muchos Gracias for your post. I learned a lot in like only 10 minutes. ♡
Hi, @life-on-earth, all work published by the original creator on Steemit is automatically protected by copyright. It might be strange, but crediting yourself directly under your own work should be making it clear that it is your work and states that it is protected by copyright. Unfortunately, people who want to steal, will steal. Reporting plagiarism to @steemcleaners is the best way at the moment to 'punish' people who are plagiarizing. 'Protecting', however, is not necessarily needed, since your work is already protected by law. Hopefully this helps.
This was very usefull! Makes me fall a sleep at night, thanks alot @xposed!
Don't let the bedbugs bite ;-). You're more than welcome!
That statement is misleading, you have to apply for a copyright/trademark license and pay the applicable fees. You are not protected just by printing your name on or below something.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - which is ratified by most countries, including the USA - declares copyright to be granted when an artwork is created. Registration is not required for the author get the copyright.
In the USA registration with the Copyright Office is useful for e.g. legal reasons (lawsuits) but that does not mean that non-registered is not protected. Copyright still applies.
In other countries there is no registration at all, and also there copyright violations are settled in court when necessary.
In the USA only materials registered can be granted monetary and attorney fees relief from lawsuits brought forth. The US was part of the Berne Convention but opted to keep intact that provision. There is also the fair use doctrine in the US that allows use of copyright material as long as that use does not supersede the value to the author, such uses would be educational, or like here on Steemit published for debate or criticism. Also copyrights do expire in almost every country, with each country having a different set number of years that those right expired, with most generally around fifty years.
Here on Steemit, every work that you do not own and publish requires a commercial license. Whether you make a penny or not. the purpose of publishing your work on Steemit is to receive currency -or you can decline payout, and even then it requires a commercial license(!) since your account is attached to a wallet and dependable on -pending- pay-outs. Period. Do not spread misleading information like this, this will only lead to confusion.
Yes, you are right that there are works that require an application to be indexed as copyrighted material. But this is only applicable and interesting to and for bigger companies and not for freelance content creators who work on their own. Whenever they work for bigger companies that require that kind of license, the requirement to deposit a license to be indexed is utter nonsense since -all created work is protected by copyright the moment it has been created, by law, and by any law. The company, however, can insist that the work needs to be applied for those kinds of licenses that require a fee to be paid, which that same company will pay. Other than that, what you are saying does not apply at all to the above comment and question in mind.
I hope you are aware that I did go look it up, and yes it is copyrighted but in the US unless you file and pay fees to your copyright, trade mark, patents you cannot sue in a court of law for monetary damages. Sorry to burst your bubble but that's just the way it goes down, I could sit here all day and post news articles off media sites for debates/discussions under the fair use law and as long as I am not altering that content, claiming it as mine or making a considerable amount of money to my benefit there's absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. I am sure Fox News doesn't care I made two cents posting some article. Actually on the other site I blog on I do that all night long, and to probably your horror so do hundreds of other people blogging on that site. Don't believe me go check it out, it's call Disqus.
Hey @sunlit7 I think you have patent, trademark and copyright mixed up together. Although there are different laws for copyright world-wide, I'd like to point out that whenever a work has been created, it is instantly protected by copyright -by law.
Yes I said that. You are absolutely correct. But here in the US if you do not file and pay fees to protect your work you cannot file for monetary damages in a court of law.
Hey @sunlit7, you said that the statement we made to @life-on-earth's question is misleading, which is untrue. Instead, your statement is confusing and misleading since all work created is copyright protected by law. Filing for compensation on monetary damages is a different topic and needs to be approached differently depending on the country where you live in. Keep in mind that Steemit is a global platform where users join across the globe, and not just USA.
We wish to keep the matter on topic and as clear as possible to as many Steemians without going in too much depth. If we would, we would have to be explaining the entire database on Copyright law worldwide which is a task that can't be covered in a blog post this size.
I know, that's why I repeatedly said within the US. I did make note in one of my comments that every country was different. We patented an item a few years back so I knew that "total" protection came from filing. If you want to protect your work best thing is to check with your countries laws and follow the steps for the best protection.
Fantastic article. I have been in these discussions quite a bit lately about content. I also wrote an article a while back about where and how to find CC0 pics. I can link it is f you like. Thanks
Hi @davidallenjones, thank you. Copyright is a heated discussion, and a gray area for a lot of people who do not know or understand what copyright is. If you have any suggestions on adding links where only work is published that can be used for commercial purposes we are happy to add those links to our blogpost.
@xposed thanks for this post and to bring up the topic. This entire area is one that is hotly debated as you say and will continue to be for quite some time. In terms of sites, I am sure you are aware of places like Pixbay and Pexels where you can get photos with CC0 licenses. There are several other good ones like PxHere too. The reasons that photos and video sites like these are available is because the advent on low cost high quality cameras and so many sites selling them to traditional places that it wrecked the photography industry. When you add in that people are also using GiFs and memes from content with no credit paid, you can see that things are in a bad way for those who take pictures.
So most photogs have thrown in the towel and are looking to see if the new model of volume or giving away pictures as marketing for their services, or setting up on sites like Patreon actually pans out. I can tell you it has for only a very few photographers and most of the great ones I know struggle.
Longer form content is a more complicated issue. As you probably know newspaper and other periodical companies are under real pressure to make money but they are scrutinized. Today, they are under onslaught by regulators demanding high quality content and accountability. They need to be both profitable and responsible. So if they create content and set up licenses and that content ends up on sites that are focusing on terrorism, racism or other bad things, it can come back to haunt them. Also they do not have a revenue model for all of this. The tech has been way ahead of the laws and no one has wanted to slow things down for fear of stopping the tech money trains, so it is a mess right now.
On top of this, you have cheap online sites providing low quality content much of which is merely the traditional publishers content either rewritten or simply copied.
So finding good content that is not copyrighted and valued is really difficult. there are a few sites like http://www.copyrightfreecontent.com/ and there is this site that has links to public domain online resources http://publicdomainreview.org/guide-to-finding-interesting-public-domain-works-online/ but there is not a whole lot. Smart publishers are simply wating for laws to be rewritten to cover them for what is happening now. Many believe that the big guys like Facebook and Google will have to pay billions retroactively to content owners (Steemit would also be on the hook). Where and how this will end is anyone's guess but the direction is toward more regulation and more policing not less.
So you are left with two choices. 1. Take other people's content and hope that it does not come down on individuals. ( I personally think that there is a good possibility that this is the case).
Just my thoughts. and one more on a personal side. I am a firm believer in protecting creator rights. It takes time, sweat and resources to create content. Guys like Mark Zuckerburg have exploited the content of others (yes posts on Facebook is content too) to become one of the richest people in the world While many of the musicians, writer and other creative people cannot make any money. Same with Google's Youtube in many cases. Creators make these platforms run. So they should be paid.
I am in a fight right now with Spotify for the same reasons. They are about to go public at a $26B USD valuation meanwhile their writers and small publishers make very little. This is not sour grapes nor is it not recognizing changes in business models. I get and understand that times have changed, but if people still love the product (they do), then why are the people that create it getting paid any more and those who market or co-opt it making so much money. Without our creative people life becomes less interesting so we need to protect them. With this said, some common sense changes have to be made and I am hopeful with things like blockchain we can both create new models and break the content monopolies that are very outdated. Let's all stay focused on these issues. A place like Steemit has to because its future depends on it. Hopefully I answered your questions and thanks.
Understanding the way how Copyright works at this very moment by law is one thing. Denying it, is another. Learn, adapt and move on.
Thanks for sharing @xposed
Lets spread the word about Copyright!
Awesome stuff there. Everyone needs to read this and get on with this initiative. Glad to resteem.
Thank you @misterakpan, I totally agree and thank you so much for Resteeming this blog post about Copyright.
@xposed a very important and interesting
Post thank i for sharing
You're welcome. Please Resteem and share it with your friends.
It’s done i resteemed it 👍🏼
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People think that the internet is big enough that no one will notice plagiarism. But unfortunately for them internet has too many amateur investigators who capture such details. :D
Thank Google for reverse-image tracing @voraz! Thanks for tuning in.
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Thanks a lot for doing this. I too believe lots of copyright issues happen because people either don't know better or they believe it's no big deal.
I think it is important to have that in mind when trying to educate (and convince) people and I think such an initiative is the right approach :)
Thank you for your support @christianunger and thank you for your resteem. Educating people properly about Copyright seems to be an issue as well, so we tried our best to cover it all in a nutshell.
This is one of the easiest mistake most new people in Steemit incur myself included.
I remember my first blog posts and I got my images from Google and Wikipedia and under the image I would say Image gotten from Google.
I thank the person who commented on one of my post and told me how to properly cite a source and even gave my first primer on using Pixabay and Unsplash.
It is our responsibility since we are writing a blog post that we properly credit images, research and information from other websites and quotations to the right people.
Thank you for this one.
Hey @maverickinvictus! Good to see you here, we all have made that mistake. And we are human, so no worries. Talk to you soon.
Очень полезная информация!! К сожалению не все знают что такое плагиат. Я когда-то тоже была новым пользователем. Теперь знаю немного больше. )))
Эй, @olesia, мне приятно узнать, что вы узнали что-то большее о плагиате! )))
Я американский автор. Я родился здесь и всю свою карьеру. Американцы, как вы, наверное, знаете, как судебные разбирательства. Существуют крупные компании, которые имеют адвокатов в Нью-Йорке, которые очень, очень ревностно относятся к своим авторским правам. Однажды меня привлекли к суду, потому что мой редактор скопировал 72 слова из 300 000 с разрешения и забыл кавычки («»). Пожалуйста, будь осторожен.
Thank you for this. Having spent time in both academia and as a musician, I am a strong believer in avoiding plagiarism and giving credit to content creators. It's not right in academia, and I think it's just as bad to profit off of someone's intellectual property.
Anyone who's had a blog post outright stolen, and had the content thief get hundreds more comments than you, should also understand why we can't tolerate this, especially on a platform that pays out for creating original content.
Right on!
this is a great article with great information, I've touched on this myself, but nowhere near as thourough as this is.
Hey @skiponline, thank you so much! I saw your post about your findings that your work has been published by someone else without your permission, is that the post you're talking about?
yes, that is the one! :)
Thanks for sharing the awareness for us new comers, I'll be definitely make sure any pictures, videos, and/or music on my posts won't violate the rights of the creator. Well, I'll try :)
Hi @tsteemit, we are looking forward to see some proper sourcing in your future posts. Hopefully it will add quality to your post and make it easier for curators to curate it.