Making money from free stuff

Everything needed to profit from free, public domain material

Understanding Copyright Laws and Regulations

As our main site says, there is free money lying around, and it's up to you to pick it up. I'll show you how. This is valuable information previously only available in an ebook costing $199. We've bought the rights to that book and published the whole text here! Free. Happy reading.

Yes, you can make money from copyrights, or rather the lack of them. I should first point out that copyright laws and regulations can vary quite a bit depending on your location, so always refer to your local laws before making use of any newly found public domain material. A little later in this section I will give you some places on the web to reference for more copyright law information, however if you are unsure about anything pertaining to copyright law, consider consulting a professional attorney familiar in the area of copyright law, regulations and procedures, to protect yourself, your business and your assets. You are always better off when you play it safe, and understand your chosen field.

Keeping in mind that this section is meant merely as a primer to the ins and outs of copyright law, I will briefly cover some of the most important points. Copyright law itself is a whole book, with many important factors and key notes to remember when working with public material, and as such it can be a blessing or a headache, depending on your outlook and understanding of modern day laws and regulations. Fortunately for us, public domain material is somewhat self explanatory in regards to the laws and determining such a work will usually require little effort on your part.

The U.S. Copyright Act can be found in Title 17 of the United States Code or USC for short. Over the years there has been several amendments to the U.S. Copyright Act, and if you would like to view it by individual section or in its entirety you can do so at the U.S. Copyright website, you can view these in both .pdf and .txt formats.

What is and is not protected under copyright

To give you an idea of what is protected by copyright laws and regulations, U.S. Copyright law pertains to "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression" (17 U.S.C., s 102(a)). Works of authorship include: "(1) literary works; (2) musical works, including any accompanying words; (3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music; (4) pantomimes and choreographic works; (5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; (6) motion pictures and audiovisual works; (7) sound recordings; and (8) architectural works" (17 U.S.C., § 102(a)).

U.S. Copyright laws however, do not extend to: works that lack originality, works in the public domain, U.S. government works (17 U.S.C., § 105), ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries (17 U.S.C., § 102(b)), or names, titles, and short phrases (e.g., mottoes, slogans; Circular 34, 2002). Patent, trademark, and contract law are potential sources of protection for ideas, data, discoveries, or creative slogans that are not protected by copyright law.

Penalties for illegal use of copyrighted material

Otherwise known as copyright infringement, this is the illegal or unauthorized use of copyrighted material, which carries harsh penalties in a court of law. Many of you familiar with the Internet, may have heard the term piracy or pirated, which is simply another term for the copyright infringement of digital and/or electronic works.

Most copyright infringement cases are prosecuted through private lawsuits by the copyright holder or licensees. There are still cases in which a specific jurisdiction has imposed penalties, for blatant infringement or disregard of anothers copyright, but they are few and far between. Often times a creator of an individual work, especially on the web, will search for those in violation of their copyright, and pursue further action.

As I have mentioned above copyright infringement is a serious charge, which is punishable by fines and arrest. However, as stated many of the cases are actually lawsuits which sometimes carry high six figure penalties, so make sure you verify a work before recreating or redistributing it, so you do not lose everything you have worked for.

Where to find out more about copyright laws and regulations

* The U.S. Copyright office website has .pdf and .txt downladable versions of the U.S. Copyright Act.
* Learn more about copyrights and their respective laws and regulations online at Wikipedia.com.
* On the Library of Congress website you can find some great information in regards to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
* The Copyright Board of Canada offers everything you need to know about Canadian copyright information.
* If you are working or operating out of Australia, you can visit the Australian Copyright Council, which is a great nonprofit organization developed to offer information and assistance to those working with or interested in learning more about Australia's Copyright laws.
* For those of you in the UK, Wikipedia.com hasn't left you out. You can find everything you need to know about the current UK copyright laws and regulations.