COPYRIGHTS
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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
8. architectural works
(http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#wwp)

It’s important to realize that the categories above are defined rather broadly. For example, according to the U.S. Copyright Office, computer programs may be registered as “literary works” and maps and architectural plans may be registered as “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.” It is equally important to know what is not covered by copyright law. Copyright does not cover:
• Works not fixed in a tangible form of expression
• Titles, names, short phrases, or slogans
• Ideas, procedures, methods, concepts, or principles
• Works consisting entirely of common knowledge (for example, standard calendars, tape measures and rulers, or lists or tables taken from public documents)

In your role as webmaster or web designer, you need to be aware of copyright issues from two angles:
1. What protection your own work has
(that is, work they publish on the WWW
2. What precautions you need to take when using portions of others’ work on your websites

Regarding the first issue, the HTML pages you create presumably fall under the “literary works” category (assuming those pages contain your own original work). This includes any text, graphics, photographs, sound files, video files, or animations you have created as part of your web pages. The proper way to notify others that the work is copyright-protected is to include a copyright symbol (©) or the word “Copyright,” the year the work was originally created, and their name or company name, for example: © 2002 ID 4 the Web or Copyright 2002 ID 4 the Web

Using the copyright symbol as described above is no longer required in the United States; however, it is a good idea to include it whenever possible. It is not necessary to register each work with the U.S. Copyright Office:

The use of the copyright notice is the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#noc).

Regarding the second issue, keep in mind that any text, graphics, photographs, sound files, video files, or animations created by someone other than yourself may be copyright-protected. In general, you should follow these precautions:

• When in doubt, seek explicit permission to use others’ work (for example, direct quotations, images, and so on).
• Always cite your sources.
• If permission to use the words of another author is unobtainable, explain his or her comments in your own words. Remember, ideas and concepts are not copyright-protected, but an author’s exact wording is.
• Educate yourself about the doctrine of fair use (covered next).

FAIR USE
The Fair Use section of the Copyright website (at http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/ info/fairUse/fairUse.asp) provides specific information regarding fair use. It indicates that the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act identifies four factors that should be considered when determining fair use:
1. The purpose of the work
2. The nature of the work
3. The amount of the work used and how substantial the portion is
4. The potential impact on the marketplace value of the work

The last factor is the most important factor when determining whether a use is “fair.” For example, if you use enough of a work that it affects others’ motivation to purchase the complete work, then your use is not fair because it has impacted the marketplace value of the work.

Resources
• Copyright Basics section of the U.S. Copyright Office:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html
• The Copyright website:
http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/
• Copyright website’s Fair Use section:
http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/info/fairUse/fairUse.asp
• USPTO’s CONFU: The Conference on Fair Use:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/

CITING SOURCES
Correctly citing the works of others is critical for both legal and credibility reasons. It acknowledges the source as the originator of the material and encourages people to visit the original work. Students may be used to citing the works of others when they come from traditional resources, such as books or journals. A bibliographic reference typically includes some combination of the following elements:

• Author’s name
• Title of the article or story
• Title of the book or journal
• Publisher’s name
• Date of publication
• Place of publication
• Page numbers of the reference

You may be familiar with one or more of the style manuals available for textbased references. Tell them that the same style manuals are now providing guidelines for electronic references. The most widely used style manuals include:
• The MLA (Modern Language Association) Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
• The Chicago Manual of Style
• Scientific Style and Format: The CBE (Council of Biology Editors, now the Council of Science Editors) Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers

Each of the style manuals may differ slightly in its presentation of cited works (for example, required elements, order of elements, and so on); however, the manuals share many of the same requirements. These manuals now provide citation guidelines for almost any type of electronic or online reference, including:
• The Internet
• Email, discussion forums, listservs, and newsgroups
• Gopher sites
• FTP sites
• Telnet sites
• Chat rooms

Citing a work found in the web environment may not be as straightforward as citing a reference found in a book. One problem that arises when dealing with citing electronic references is that the amount of detail available for an online or electronic reference may not be the same as found when using print material; in that case, you use what you have, following a particular citation style as much as possible.

When you cite web references, for example, most manuals indicate that you should include as much of the following information as is available: the author or editor’s name, the title of the piece (if an article or short story), the title of the book, publication information for any print version, title of the project or other description (such as “home page”), date of web publication (most recent), name of affiliated organization or institution, date you accessed the source, and the URL. Here are some examples of various styles of web references:

• MLA style, from Citation Styles Online
(at http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html#1):
Mortimer, Gail. The William Faulkner Society Home Page. 16 Sept. 1999. William
Faulkner Soc. 1 Oct. 1999 <http://www.acad.swarthmore.edu/faulkner>.

• APA style, from Citation Styles Online
(at http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html)
Fine, M., & Kurdek, L. A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and
authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48,
1141-1147. Retrieved June 7, 1999, from http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/
kurdek.html

• Chicago style, from Online! Citation Styles
(http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html#1):
Brendan P. Kehoe, Zen and the Art of the Internet, January 1992, <http://
www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0_toc.html> (4 June 1999), Network Basics.

RESOURCES
For specific examples and additional information on citing online resources, visit one
of the following websites:
• The Online! Citation Styles website:
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html
• The Quick Guide: Citing Net Sources section of the net.TUTOR website:
http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les7/guide.html
• The Columbia Guide to Online Style website:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html

Literary works

Musical works, including any
accompanying words

Dramatic works, including any
accompanying music

Pantomimes and choreographic works

Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works

Motion pictures and other Audiovisual works

Sound recordings

Architectural works

NOT COPYRIGHTABLE

Works not fixed in a
tangible form of expression

Titles, names, short
phrases, or slogans

Ideas, procedures,
methods, concepts, or principles

Works consisting entirely of common knowledge (for example, standard calendars, tape measures and rulers, or lists or tables taken from public documents)