While searching the Internet, you discover the perfect photograph to include in your new center brochure. Preparing for a volunteer training class, you come across a chapter in a manual that you would like to copy for each participant. Reading an article that addresses abortion, you find an excerpt that you would like to reprint in your upcoming newsletter. These are all situations that give rise to copyright concerns.
Federal law protects various forms of authored works from unauthorized copying.
The works protected include, among other things, books, articles, photographs, music, lyrics, poetry, sound recordings, and videos. Works published on the Internet enjoy the same copyright protection as other materials. Also, the mere fact that a work does not bear a copyright mark does not mean that it lacks copyright protection. Generally, a person may not legally copy protected materials without obtaining the written permission of the copyright owner. Sadly, copyright infringement occurs far too often.