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Remember to bookmark this site!  Updated August 30 2008.

More On Copyright:

OLD FAMILY PHOTOS:  Frankly, I'm not sure what the law is in this regard.  I have heard that you can use family photos taken by one of your deceased relatives IF you are their heir.  Also, at least in the US, any copyrighted materials published before 1922 are now in the public domain.  If there's any possibility of a question, be sure to check with your local copyright authority (for instance, the United States Copyright Office in the US, or the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in Canada).

 

PUBLIC DOMAIN:  you may freely use any work in the public domain without worrying about copyright.  Any work published in the US before 1922 is in the public domain in the US.  Any work that is declared to be in the public domain by the creator of the work is in the public domain.  After that it gets complicated!

 

To see if a particular song is in the public domain, visit www.pdinfo.com.

 

ROYALTY-FREE WORKS:  There are sources (both print and online) for "stock" or royalty-free artwork, photos and music.  These are cases where the copyright holder gives you permission to use the work.  Sometimes the copyright holder requires a licensing fee, sometimes they give reproduction permission for free (probably with the requirement that you identify the work as theirs).

 

Note:  ALWAYS CHECK THE RIGHTS FIRST.  Sometimes, for instance, permission is only given for non-commercial use; in that case, you could use the image in something you were going to give away to family members, but not in a brochure you were going to use to advertise your business, or a product you were going to sell.

 

Sources of royalty-free works: you can find no-cost royalty-free images on www.freeimages.co.uk and www.morguefile.com, as well as other sites.  You can license royalty-free original music at R.J. Woods Productions, and music, photos and video clips at ProductionTrax.

 

COMMERCIAL MUSIC:  Remember that you cannot freely use commercial music (such as you would hear on the radio), even if you personally sing and play the instruments.  This applies to hymns and church songs, too.

 

"In the case of a "real song", like something you would hear on a top-40
radio play-list, there are several different parties involved with the song:
       * The label owns the actual sound recording...
       * The publisher works on behalf of the song's composer (the person who arranged the music) and songwriter (the person who wrote the lyrics).

"If you want to use a song for any reason, you have to somehow obtain
rights at least from the publisher, and possibly from the label as well..."

   (From "How Music Licensing Works" by Marshall Brain).

 

Note:  In some cases (some Christmas carols and church hymns, for instance) the melody itself is in the public domain even though the particular arrangement (and often the words) are under copyright.  But, as always, check first before using it!

 

For more on music licensing, visit the Harry Fox Agency website.

YOUR OWN WORK:  If you took the photo yourself, created the artwork yourself (NOT from a copyrighted source), wrote the music yourself, or wrote the prose/poetry/lyrics yourself, then you are the copyright holder and there is no problem!  The copyright notice will read "©(date)(your name)".

 

YOUR OWN WORK THAT IS A COPY OF SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK:  Don't do it!  If you, for instance, do a painting from a published photograph (a photo in a magazine, for instance), or write a song using a melody from a song you heard on the radio, you are violating the copyright holder's rights.  This can be a very big problem!  For instance, you can't do a drawing of Mickey Mouse without violating Disney's copyright - and Disney is notorious for prosecuting ALL violations of their copyright.