Copyright for Creatives

Project Introduction

At the beginning of 2019, dozens of creative works entered the Public Domain. While many misreported this as the first works released into the Public Domain in over twenty years, it was really just the largest cache released, the works' collective release delayed by a desperate attempt by a media mogul to keep their own work from entering the Public Domain.

Researchers, remixers, and other creatives rejoiced.

Some people have asked, "Who cares? What even is the Public Domain?" Unsurprisingly, these are the same people who assume anything on the Internet is in the Public Domain. (Spoiler alert: That's not how that works.) And that's not surprising. We never teach copyright in school. Not really. We teach students where to conduct research, how to cite sources, and beat them over the head to not plagiarise. And that's usually where it stops.

In a society where we create, remix, and share easily accessible material...that's a huge oversight. This book hopes to help provide some advice for navigating the tricky waters of copyright and some of its friends. But as I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice. The information presented in this series is based entirely on my experience as a creator and curator. Copyright laws update. Rulings affect the interpretation of those laws. Always, always, always do your due diligence before stepping into these waters. (Also, I'm human. I make mistakes or miss updates. Fact checking is your friend.)

The Purpose of the Project

A few years ago, I created a copyright guide that I shared on my website because I was fielding a lot of questions, and I was learning a lot about different aspects of copyright from my own work. But times change. Audiences change. Search engines change. Those posts have kind of been lost to the world.

It's just as well, since those posts were very general, meant more as a gauge or internal compass for those new to creating who knew they needed to be mindful of copyright issues, but didn't really understand what that meant on a practical level. What reminded me was coming across nearly a dozen wattpad guides on how to create cover art, every single one of them including the incredibly bad piece of advice: If you change a color or add text, you can use any image off the internet for free because you now have the copyright. We'll get into why this isn't true as we go along, but for now - Don't use anything off the internet you don't personally own or cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt is available for your use.

My Own History Working With Copyright

I used to do bespoke graphic design for people on a well-known blogging site, and as a result became obnoxiously well-versed in copyright issues. My design team had to know what we could do, what we couldn't do, and how to appropriately source and credit. That translated to keeping one ear open for copyright discussions that could affect our work.

I had been teaching for years at that point, and had worked in museums for a while before that, and so I knew copyright meant, "Hands off! Make your own stuff!" and that there was this thing called Fair Use that allowed educators to use copyrighted resources under a very specific set of situations. But I really hadn't dealt with copyright outside of that, and as the internet was still a fairly young medium, I had a lot of learning to do to make sure the designs I was creating wouldn't land me in hot water.

As I continued to work on creations headed for the internet (these laws apply both online and offline - ed.) I also became familiar with the Creative Commons. I even had some work in the Creative Commons when Flickr was actively participating with them. (They may still be. I don't know. I kind of left Flickr.) Other platforms, like wattpad and deviantArt, also allow you to release projects under a Creative Commons license, and it can be helpful if you're looking to actively contribute original material to the remix culture.

Since then, I have moved on to working with Public Domain material as part of my voiceover work, and that has similarly been an eye-opening experience. (Public Domain be cray-cray, y'all, as you may have noticed at the beginning of January 2019, when that large cache of creative works entered the Public Domain.)

So, as you can see, I've been working with copyrights in all its various flavors for a long time, and I like to stay up to date on copyright issues and challenges that crop up. And I enjoy helping others find their footing in this sticky territory.

The Format of This Project

The guide, in its fully developed entirety, will be housed here on wattpad, the site that triggered this updated version of my old work. After I get through the basic information, I'm hoping to add examples of how copyright, Fair Use, the Creative Commons, and the Public Domain come together to protect artists and works while helping other content creators interact with those works in a respectful manner, because they can be interesting explorations.

I'll also be blogging the book, as well as exploring places where copyright and creation and usage collide. Feel free to follow along over at https://veramorstudios.com/tag/copyright-for-creatives/.

Ready to learn how the labyrinth that is our copyright law works? Then let's go.