What is a Copyright?
Copyright law protects the individual's right to control the use of their intellectual property.
Copyright law applies to literature, music, lyrics, plays, choreography, pictures, photos, sculptures, graphics, movies, audio/visual works, and sound recordings.
Copyright and trademark infringement can result in lawsuits. Copyright law was created to protect the artist, the creator, or the holder of the copyright from unlawful use of their material. The responsible student journalist needs to understand copyright law in order to avoid costly fines and/or delays in publication.
The Copyright Law chapter provides valuable information concerning general copyright and trademark law related to content used in your yearbook.
Download the Copyright Law chapter direct from the Planning Guide at the end of this article.
How does this affect my yearbook?
We see it every year - a great cover comes in that looks exactly like an iPhone or a double-page spread for the school's Olympic Day uses the 5 colored rings - and we have to tell the adviser it can't be used in the current design.
If you have any questions as to whether the art or design is copyright protected, just give us a call before you finalize it. Even faxing a hand-drawn sketch with the idea will give us something to talk about.
We've helped many advisers MODIFY their idea to adapt them for work within copyright law.
Happy (and legal!) Creating...
Diane