©2013 Copyright. All rights reserved.

     Copyright is a type of protection stated in the U.S Constitution and law for original works of authors.  Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.  This information was located at the website "http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html" which can be found here.  An example of Copyright can be when a person creates their own song and posts it online.  Soon, another person takes that song, and places it in a video of theirs without the owner's permission.  Another example of Copyright can be if a person writes their own novel and sells it in a local book store.  Soon, a customer purchases that book, and decided to type the first three chapters online for everyone else to see without the consent of the original author.  Those are two examples of Copyright Infringement.

     Fair Use is the copying of Copyright material for the reasons of a limited or "transformative" purpose, such as to comment on it, criticize it, or parody it.  This can be done without the consent of the original author and can be used as a defensive measure for protecting against a Copyright claim.  If it qualifies as Fair Use, then it will not be considered as a Copyright Infringement.  Basically, it is just similar to a person making a comment on a piece of work.  An example can be if a popular online blogger decides to take a paragraph from a popular novel and criticize it.  The blogger would post his or her own opinions on that section and publish it for his or her audience.

     Shepard Fairey was brought to court for falsifying and destroying documents and coaching a witness while in a Copyright Infringement battle over his famous image of Barack Obama.  The reason why he was ordered to court was because he tampered with evidence.  The Federal Court found Fairey had both destroyed documents that would prove that he did not use the pictures of Obama and Clooney, and made fake ones to try to defend himself with the claims he made in his complaint.  According to Court Documents, Fairey and AP settled the civil suit in January 2011 for $1.6 million.

     Public Domains are works that lack Copyright Protection.  They are available for everyone to use freely and without the author's permission.  They are a great source of materials for teaching, research, products, and many other uses.  Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that allows the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through legal tools.  An example of a public domain website for music can be found here.  An example of a Creative Commons website can be found here.  An interesting article about Congress keeping Mickey Mouse out of the public domain 15 years ago can be found here.

     Halloween before image used with permission, Creative Commons

Playing with Photoshop: Exploring what Liquify, Dodge + Burn, and Clone Stamp Tool can do.