Copy Right

These days almost all major nations follow the Berne copyright convention. In the US, nearly everything created originally and privately is copyrighted, hence protected, regardless of whether it has a notice or not. To be on the safe side legally as well as morally, operate on the assumption that other people’s works are copyrighted, and may not be copied, unless you know otherwise. Even though on some mostly old stuff copyright protection has expired, be sure you operate on knowledge and not hearsay. It applies to pictures, too. If it looks copyrighted, it probably is.

Would creative people before copyright have thought more, better or bigger thoughts if copyright had been around back then? I find it hard to imagine.

Does the copyright and it’s cousin, the trademark, actually hinder the free flow of ideas, and innovation? Imagine Nadal or Federer with copyrights on their best shots, or Tiger Woods with a copyright on his golf swing, or David Beckham with a trademark on his freekick. Do you think it would help their respective sports?

I am not an admirer of copyright. While justified in some cases, it’s mostly a reflection of the scarcity mentality. If you must steal (plagiarize), then steal. Don’t let copyright stop you. In the long run, you’ll only hurt yourself the most.