Description:

There is much misinformation on copyright law and what artists can do to protect themselves when they find their rights infringed, especially on the Internet and the Web.

Some mistakenly think that artists have no protection against potential infringers on the Web and that a lawsuit is the only recourse. Since many artists will not take that step, they believe to be powerless. This is not quite accurate.

A new set of laws (only about 10 years old) called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act determines specific procedures which can be used by an artist or other copyright holders when dealing with infringements in the digital realm. These are called “Take Down and Put Back” procedures.

These procedures are NOT the equivalent of filing a lawsuit, and are not complicated either.

What can an artist do: first steps

There are many types of copyright infringements, among others, such as:

1) Someone posted images of your work on their website without your authorization;
2) Someone wrote a tutorial on a design which you own (or a design which you hold the copyright) without giving you credit and without your authorization;
3) Someone posted your text/tutorial on their website without your authorization.

Try to resolve it yourself first: most of the time, people are not even aware that they are violating another person’s rights. The Web is so easy to use that they feel everything is public domain.

If you feel that your rights have been violated, then first attempt to contact the poster and request the removal of the materials from their website. Write in a non-confrontational manner, if possible, and make sure to mention that you are aware they are probably not correctly informed about Copyright law on the Web.

Refer them to legal sites and if possible, with correct and simple language which applies to the situation.

Many times, that is all that it takes -- most people will be glad to remove the offending material without any further problems.

If that doesn’t work, then what?

If the person who is violating your rights cannot be reached or is clearly acting without intention of complying with your requests, then proceed to contact the website or host provider, requesting the immediate “Take down” of the offending material.

Start by initiating a dialog with the website administration. If the poster has undoubtedly violated your rights, they will be glad to remove the material immediately and sometimes even block the poster’s participation.

If the situation is a bit more complex, requiring historic evidence or if the violation is not completely crystal clear to the website admin, then they will give you instructions on how to initiate a “Take Down” procedure.

Here at JewelryLessons.com, these procedures are clearly described in our Copyright Notice.

This procedure DOES NOT REQUIRE a lawsuit to be filed, however it does require that you be the rightful owner of the Copyright and that proper basic documentation is sent in correctly, otherwise it could be interpreted as defamation.

The correct procedure for “Take Down”

Typically, the documentation to initiate the Take Down should be sent in WRITING, BY MAIL (email is usually not accepted for these claims).

1) All your contact information, including address, email, phone;
2) A description of the work you believe was copied with as much information about it as you can;
3) The exact location of the work you believe was copied;
4) Any information on the alleged infringer, if you have it;
5) A SIGNED statement with all your information, stating that you have good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above are not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or per the terms of the law.
6) A SIGNED statement with all your information, stating that you swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are the actual copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right, which is allegedly infringed.

What happens next

When the website or host provided receives your proper claims, they will remove (Take Down) the offending material and notify the alleged infringer.
That is all that it takes!

If, however, the original poster of the materials believes the Take Down procedure was done frivolously, then they can request and initiate a “Put Back” procedure. This procedure requires the same type of documents as the “Take Down”.

Once the website or hosting service receives the Put Back notification, they are obligated to restore the contents to the site. This protects people who have NOT infringed on other people’s rights in a “safe harbor”. They will also notify you about the Put Back.

Is a lawsuit ever necessary?

Sometimes, unfortunately. After requesting amicably to the poster and to the website admin and after requesting a proper Take Down procedure, if you STILL feel your rights are being violated and the original poster insists in not removing the materials, then you have about 14 days to initiate a lawsuit.

There is a MUCH that can happen before a lawsuit:
1) Write amicably and request the poster to remove the materials;
2) Write to the hosting service or website and request instructions;
3) Send in proper documents to the website requesting a formal Take Down;
4) Wait to see if the poster will ever reply with a Put Back.

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GET INFORMED CORRECTLY about your rights and what can be done. Even well intentioned people can be easily misinformed sometimes.

Please note: JL Admin does not offer legal advice and this article is just an overview of existing laws. Please request legal advice from a legal professional and consult the US Copyright Office.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512