Internet copyright laws are covered by existing laws, but some countries have specific laws. Illegal sharing is prohibited, fair use is allowed, and ISPs can be held liable. Public domain works are not protected, but works posted on the internet are not subject to public domain laws. ISPs are protected if they are unaware of illegal use. Fair use doctrine applies to news, commentary, and education.
Internet copyright laws are covered by existing copyright laws, but some governments have also enacted laws that specifically address Internet issues, such as the Digital Millennium Act in the United States. Laws often prohibit the illegal sharing of copyrighted material online, allow fair use of content made available online, and hold Internet Service Providers (ISPs) liable if they allow users to post material without the creator’s permission. Works that are in the public domain are often not protected by Internet copyright laws. The copyrights on those works are said to have expired, and every nation has rules on how to calculate the expiration date based on the creator’s death and the original creation date. For example, in the United States, online publishers can reproduce books published before 1923 as eBooks.
Works posted on the Internet are not subject to public domain laws. For example, a blogger can’t essentially copy an article she found online to include it in her blog and claim that the work fell into the public domain when it was posted on the Internet. The term public domain refers to works that are no longer protected by copyright laws due to the length of time that has elapsed from the original date of creation to the creator’s death. Copyrights are not indefinite and, once expired by public domain law, can be shared freely on the Internet. If the works are not subject to public domain laws, anyone who copies, distributes or reproduces such works on the Internet is often liable for copyright infringement on the Internet.
ISPs are often protected by Internet copyright laws such as the Digital Millennium Act, as long as they are unaware of illegal copyright use on their servers. Creators of original works can often take advantage of such laws by contacting ISPs directly in writing and notifying them of copyright infringement. ISPs often investigate allegations and remove content when they can verify that there is copyright infringement. For example, video sharing websites and the ISPs that host them are often contacted about user-posted movies and music videos that violate Internet copyright laws. Search engine owners and operators can also enforce these laws and respond in the same way as ISPSs.
The fair use doctrine also applies to copyright laws on the Internet, allowing others to use content posted online in news, commentary, and for educational purposes. The creator should not be contacted or granted permission in these cases. For example, an online news service may include portions of work posted online by a professor in an article without liability for copyright infringement on the Internet.
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