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Copyright©
Are We Serious?
A Statement from Castle Realm
by Lord Colm and jade
Those of you who have browsed the pages of Castle
Realm have no doubt noticed the little "Copyright©" notice on all of our
original work and we're sure some of you have wondered what this means, if anything. The
word "copyright" or the symbol "©" means that the work is protected
by law against reproduction, redistribution or preparing derivative works. (A derivative work is one based on the copyrighted work of another where
simple wording was changed but the main body of the work remained the same.)
It seems this business of creating a web page has
brought out the worst in some of us. Building a site that is both useful and appealing is
not an easy undertaking for anyone. It requires time, creativity and a lot of originality
and it appears that all too many are opting to by-pass a few of these steps by helping
themselves to the fruits of other people's labor. Quite frankly, we are very tired of
these unscrupulous site owners picking our apples, as well as pears from our friends.
We are very serious about protecting our work and
the work of others, in fact, we're serious enough to pursue any unauthorized use of
articles, graphics or creative endeavors used on Castle Realm. Violating these laws can
bring some serious consequences. We know of at least one site that was taken off the web
by a ISP because the owner was reported for "stealing" a copyrighted work. AOL
is also cracking down on this theft by warning all their page creators not to download
anything from the web, including images, unless they have permission to do so from the
owner. (Permission is sometimes posted on a web page, allowing the use of graphics, etc.,
often requiring the user to give them proper credit and/or a link to their site.)
Additional penalties can include substantial fines for violating the laws, should the
owner pursue this by obtaining legal counsel.
| Quick Answers |
- Our current policy: We do not permit any original works created by Lord Colm, Jade, or copyrighted to the Castle Realm D/s Resource Center to be republished on any other Web site. Requests for exceptions will be politely refused.
- Our works may not be republished in any manner or in any place, electronically or in hard copy, without our express written consent.
- If you receive income or profit from your publication (subscriptions, sales, etc.), we will not permit our works to be published by you without first negotiating a royalties contract. It's really not fair for you to make money off of our work without us receiving something in return for boosting your sales. That's business.
- Our works may not be posted to your or another person's site.
- You may not post a work of ours to a newsgroup/email group/discussion group/bulletin board/chat room.
- You may not forward the contents of our works via email. Send the URL instead.
- If you wish to use any of these material in training, either online or offline, send your students to the specific Web page on our site. Do not print copies for your participants.
- If you wish to refer to a particular Web page at an online or offline discussion, refer your participants to that Web page prior to the discussion. Do not post the work in a chat channel or print copies for participants.
- If you wish to translate a particular work, we would be very happy to post your translation on the Castle Realm D/s Resource Center. We do not permit translations to be published elsewhere.
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| If you are in question about any of our copyrighted
work, please contact us before using it by submitting a written request to Majordomo @ castlerealm.com and waiting for a
reply from us. Keep in mind that a large portion of the graphics (e.g., backgrounds, gifs,
jpgs) used on Castle Realm are original and created by us.
For those of you who still doubt the authenticity
of this statement, we've provided some selections taken from the copyright laws found on
the United States Copyright Office, Library of
Congress, website. Shoplifting is a crime.
WHAT COPYRIGHT IS
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17,
U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship" including literary,
dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is
available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the Copyright Act
generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others
to do the following:
To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords
To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to
the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
To perform the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of
literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and
other audiovisual works;
To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of
literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic,
or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other
audiovisual work; and In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly
by means of a digital audio transmission.
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the
rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976 Copyright
Act. For further information, request Circular 40.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright code to
the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107
through 120 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some
cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major
limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in
section 107 of the Act. In other instances, the limitation takes the form of a
"compulsory license" under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are
permitted upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions.
For further information about the limitations of any of these rights, consult the
copyright code or write to the Copyright Office.
WHO CAN CLAIM COPYRIGHT
Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form; that is, it
is an incident of the process of authorship. The copyright in the work of authorship
immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Only the author or those
deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.
WHAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED
Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible
form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible, so long as it may be
communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the
following categories:
(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 other audiovisual works;
(7) sound recordings; and
(8) architectural works.
These categories should be viewed quite broadly: for example, computer programs and most
"compilations" are registrable as "literary works;" maps and
architectural plans are registrable as "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural
works."
HOW LONG COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ENDURES
Works Originally Created On or After January 1, 1978
A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1,
1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation, and is ordinarily given
a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 50 years after the author's
death. In the case of "a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work
for hire," the term lasts for 50 years after the last surviving author's death. For
works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's
identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 75
years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
We hope this statement and information will answer and
questions you had and prevent any misunderstanding in the future.
Sincerely,
Lord Colm and jade
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For additional information we suggest you read
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