Comments on: Ten Copyright Myths That Can Hurt You

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:05:46 +0000

#2 is a bit off. Feist was a copyright case talking about copyrighting a collection of facts (a phone book in that case). I think you’re thinking of “Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid.”

By: photographer

photographer — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:20:56 +0000

Great article,but may not be valid for many countries. We just need to educate others on these issues. In our online age,seems like it’s becoming very common to steal other’s work. And companies like Flickr only make it workse,by allowing their clients to use any images from the website(read the agreement).

cheers,
Dmitri

By: Carolyn E. Wright

Carolyn E. Wright — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:35:35 +0000

Statutory damages range from $750 - $30,000 (not $40K) and up to $150,000 per infringement if willful. If the infringement is proven to be “innocent” (one factor can be that the copyright notice was not used), the damages can be reduced to $200.

You are eligible for statutory damages if you register before the infringement or within 3 months of publication.

If not eligible for statutory damages, you are entitled to actual damages for infringement. This usually is the normal license fee plus profits made from the infringement (that may be difficult to prove). Sometimes, however, actual damages can be significant. I represent photographers in copyright infringement cases all of the time and recover actual damages for them.

By: Jnoathan Bailey

Jnoathan Bailey — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:23:35 +0000

First off, great article! I’m glad to see that you’re drawing attention to a lot of very dangerous and very real myths. Thank you for that.

It seems a bit unfair, to me, to call number one a myth since it is legally true. Though you point out that fact and explain why it is still a good idea to put copyright notices on work, it would seem to me that the myth would be “copyright notices have no use.”

Also, with number one, it is worth talking about Copyright Management Information or CMI as the DMCA makes it illegal to remove or provide false CMI information. That is a separate tort from copyright infringement and can be worth up to $25,000 per infirngement.

Second, with the last myth, it is worth noting that you have to register your work with the US Copyright Office before you can sue in a Federal court for statutory damages and you can only earn statutory damages for infringement that occurred AFTER the registration.

That is something that separates the US from other countries, perhaps not for the best.

Thank you again for this article! It deals with some much-needed myths!