Copyright Issues

Blog Activity: Copyright

When you think of Copyright what are the first things that come to mind. One person says, siting your works, another says being sued, and the other says the acknowledgements that are in the beginning of any reading material that states who and where the particular piece was created. A lot of scrutiny arises when the topic of copyrighting comes into play, as a student we have to utilize others before us pieces in order to understand that of which we are studying.

Before reading the given article on the Copyright Concerns, I asked a couple of people their thoughts and I also held a discussion with my peers to see if they where as abreast in the topic as I had assumed to be. The answers of importance are those that are listed above: siting your works, paying tribute to the contributors, and then the who what when and how pages of a reading. What was astonishing to me was that no one thought of his or her own works as being a copyright issue.  Reason being was because if it is something that they created for a particular assignment or even beats on a computer is not being used to accommodate financial obligations then it is merely just an idea. The difference is that they feel that people walk around everyday with common ideas and thoughts, but those who have the time and finances to push the idea tend to be the ones who get things copyrighted to avoid any person coming along with the same idea. I see the point that is being made, however I raised a question, in a classroom who is most affected by copyright issues? Each person paused and thought before answering, and until this day I have not gotten a solid answer.

After our open discussion I raised the following key issues for copyright.

1. If using another persons works to satisfy financial obligations – I say this is the most important because some people fail to realize that three or more words being stated exactly the same as another persons can caused them to be sued.
2. In a classroom copying textbooks is an issue – even if it is just one copy it is and issue because the copyright entitles the creator to all copies being processed.
3. Last but not lease, my favorite, bootlegging – this is a very strenuous issue because it is something that plenty of people partake in with no remorse. Whether it is CD’s or DVD’s it is an issue.

We talked about these plus additional issues, but the three listed where what we felt as to be the hot and heavy areas because people feel indifferent about them. The indifference is regarding finances, availability, and accommodation. Not everyone agrees wit h the issues but they all must respect and pay tribute. Everyone needs to be aware of the issues because these are acts that can cost you your life savings.   

At the end of the day, you who are not careful and respectful to another persons time and efforts then you can be sued!