Hang Tight on that Copyright

Digital marketing is a tool that can help you further your professional leaps. With that being said, it is extremely important to make sure that your next post isn't stepping on someone else’s toes. Copyright was a system put in place to protect the process of publishing an idea. This is important because it ensures that authors/creators of work are able to profit from their own pieces and this also protects them from someone intruding on their copyright. Meaning, if someone produces a graphic and you ‘copy and paste’ that graphic into your company’s digital media post without giving the original creator credit, you are infringing on their work without permission and that can leave you open to legal issues. 

With the digital era racing in with a boom, there has been several different laws that have come into place to ensure copyright protection. 

No Electronic Theft (NET) Act (1997) 

This law prevented individuals from distributing copyright material even if there is no profits achieved by the violators.  

Digital Millennium Copyright (DMCA) Act (1998) 

This law was implemented to help ensure the United States treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization, are being followed. The DMCA informs companies if they have items that violate copyright; it enforces them to take down the content. Long story short, if you receive a DMCA notice, you need to review what you have online and be sure you are not infringing on someone else's copyright. 

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) (2011) and PROTECT IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property, or PIPA) Act (2011) 

These laws were put in place to give government officials and law enforcement the ability to file charges against copyright infringements. The goal with these laws were to help protect copyright with illegal sales of counterfeit goods. 

In conclusion, it is important to just be sure you are respecting copyright content and items. Long story short you can’t go about willy nilly stating a product is was created by you when you in fact did not develop it. There are laws in place to protect your content in the same way they protect other individuals content. 

🐾

References 

Strauss, J., & Frost, R. (2009). E-Marketing (7th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.