In 2000, a class-action suit brought by freelance writers sought payment from, among other online publishers, Northern Light Technology Corp. and Gale Group Inc.

 Thousands of writers’ works are downloaded to customers from these companies’ databases.

But unlike Napster which allows music to be distributed for free, these companies earn money from these downloads and the writers get nothing.

In a similar Internet distribution suit in 1999, a New York federal appeals court ruled that writers own their published work, even without a contract.

Do we who publish online need to depend on these types of lawsuits to protect our writing?  Perhaps.

But where are the rules that specifically apply to online writing?  Nowhere—yet.

It seems that the copyright office has been embroiled in exemption requests from digital protections  (Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2000).  The copyright office cannot change any laws; it can arbitrate processes that Congress mandates.

Writers will simply need to depend on the existing copyright and contract law.  In summary, the copyright law protects original expression—not facts or ideas. It also means fair use of another’s works (found in Section 7 of the Copyright Act).

Want more information?  Check out the following resources.
 

Fair Use Resources:

Zaharoff, Howard. “A Writer’s Guide to Fair Use in Copyright Law” Writer’s Digest  January 2001: 26-28.

Stanford University has a searchable web site devoted to copyright and “fair use”
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

Consortium for Educational Technology for University Systems (CETUS), California State University, State University of New York, and the City University of New York—concerned with higher education
http://www.cetus.org/fairindex.html

Legal Information Institute provides U.S. Code’s Section 107 on limitations of exclusive rights
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

The American Library Association’s stand on Fair Use in the Digital Information Environment
http://www.fas.umontreal.ca/EBSI/ebsi-l/1997/msg00002.html

Connecticut College’s Internet Resources for Copyright and Fair use
http://www.conncoll.edu/is/info-resources/copywww.html
 

Helpful Copyright Web Sites:

U.S. Copyright Office/Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

Copyright Internet Resources:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/resces.html

Internet/WWW Rip-offs: What you should know and do
http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0029.html

Internet: Copyright & Intellectual Property Issues
http://www.eserver.org/internet/copyright.html

First Person Violates “No Electronic Theft” (NET) Act
(Internet copyright theft law enacted in 1997)
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/20/internet.theft/

Ten Big Myths About Copyright Explained
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

(February)

 She can be reached by email at jana@barberio.com