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Copyright Infringement Play It Safe: Making Sure You're Not Committing Copyright Infringement Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as simple as not using someone else’s work, it’s not that easy. Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many other organizations, we have the ability to use others’ works – as long as we use it under ‘fair use’ laws. So what does fair use have to do with copyright infringement, and how can you utilize it? Fair use laws are the conditions in which you can use a copyrighted work without having to pay someone royalties. This includes when you use a copyrighted work for educational or instructional uses, criticism of the work, commentaries on the work, news reporting about the work, teaching on the work (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship uses, and research. This is talked about fully in Section 107 of the Copyright Code (commonly called Fair Use) and is available for you to read at your local library. Copyright Infringement in day-to-day life Sometimes, if you’re writing a paper for work or school, or if you are creating a Power Point presentation, you need to use someone’s work that is already in copyright. So how do you use it without committing copyright infringement? All you have to do is ask – the worst they can say is no, right? But, if they do say no, there are several items in the public domain which may help you to finish your project without having to commit copyright infringement. What is the public domain, and how does it relate to copyright infringement? Material that is not copyrighted is considered in the public domain – you cannot commit copyright infringement on works in the public domain. These works include things that the copyright has expired on, or is not copyright-able – such as government publications, jokes, titles, and ideas. Some creators (writers, musicians, artists, and more) deliberately put their work in the public domain, without ever obtaining copyright, by providing an affiliation with Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows people who create materials to forfeit some, or all, of their copyright rights and place their work either partially or fully in the public domain. So, how do I ensure I’m not committing copyright infringement? First of all, if you’re going to use someone else’s material, you may want to check the public domain to see if something is suitable for use, instead of trying to use someone else’s copyright. However, if you can’t find something suitable (and you can’t create something yourself), the next best thing (and your only legal course of action) is to find a piece that is in copyright, and contacting the copyright holder. When you contact the copyright holder, make sure you tell them what you want to use their piece for – whether it’s for your blog, podcast, or report – and ask them if you can use it. You may have to pay royalties, or an attribution in your piece, or a combination of both. The creator may also place many limitations on when and how you can use their material. Follow all these instructions they give you, and you’ll be free and clear to use their work as you want. Once you have permission to use a copyrighted work, you need to make sure you stay within the agreed-upon boundaries - if you veer outside their agreed terms, you may open yourself up for a copyright infringement lawsuit – which can be nasty, costly, and time consuming. If you’re in doubt, before contacting the copyright holder, contact a copyright lawyer to ensure you’re following the law – and protect yourself!

The Many Sides of Writer Web Rings (writer web rings) Generally, a web ring is defined as a collection of Web Sites from the Internet that are joined together in a circular structure. Writer web rings are a great example of this collection of Web Sites. Web rings may be used to increase search engine rankings, and can be considered as search engine optimization techniques. It is common for many web rings to take advantage of this and find writers looking to improve their own rankings. There are many web rings available for seasoned writers and novices alike. Becoming a member of one of the many writing web rings is as simple as joining any other web rings with different themes. Web ring web sites each have a common navigation bar that contains links to the previous and next sites. Clicking the next or previous sites repeatedly will eventually take the surfer to the site original site of the web ring; this is the origin of the term web ring. Web rings are organized around certain themes, and of course the theme for writer web rings is writing. These web rings for writers typically have moderators who are responsible for deciding what pages to include in the web ring. The making of the web ring is the foundation for the group of people who will soon join. Writer web rings are readily available and are open for all potential writers and experienced writers to join. These web rings for writers are usually seen as an outlet for many writers, who are otherwise unable to find interesting ways to increase their experience in the writing world. Typically, these web rings for writers are designed specifically for certain groups. For example, there are many web rings designed specifically for women. The Accomplished Women Writers group is a group of women writers who help each other by providing tips and hints for getting published. The web ring also includes a site that teaches women how to manage a family, household, and writing career. The Aspiring Young Writers Ring is also a web ring, and is dedicated to helping young writers on their way to becoming professionals. The Author Ring is a web ring that was established for published authors if book-length fiction and nonfiction. Other writer web rings include Black Folks Who Write, which is open to African Americans who showcase their work on the internet; Freelance Webring for freelance writers; Internet Writers’ Guild, which brings together authors of web-published literature and showcases their writing online; and Romance Readers and Writers, which is designed for writers who love all aspects of writing romance novels, and who enjoy reading romance novels. No matter the person, there is a writer web ring for almost every kind of writer, so no writer should feel discouraged if they feel their case is a unique one and there is no writer web ring to satisfy their artistic needs. Writer web rings are not a new concept, but there are many writers who don’t take advantage of their great services. A writer web ring can be used to help any writer expand their knowledge of writing techniques, of their own experience, level, and style of writing, can help them appreciate their writing as well as others, while teaching them about the business of writing, and helping them figure out the world of writing in general. These web rings are considered to be good things because a person can find many sites relating to their own writing all together without searching endlessly. Many may not see writer web rings as perfect, but they can be noted for their service they provide for many writers, and can be seen as a great tool for the writer.

Big Time Experience with Small Time Publications (writing newsletter articles) When you start writing, you may have ambitions of getting your name on the front page of newspapers and on feature stories in magazines, but you will soon find out that it takes time to get there. Even the best writers have to make their way through the ranks before making it to headline status. Don’t be discouraged though. Even though you may have been rejected more times than you could have ever imagined, there are still many places that will be accepting. Even if you feel like you’ve exhausted all of your creative power, there are publications that are ready to help you develop even further. The buildup is not leading towards riches or fame, but writing newsletter articles can be a great step in that direction. The first thing that any writer should realize is that there is more to learn. Even knowing all of the grammar and all of the clarity rules will not make you a good writer. Only experience can bring you to that place. Newsletters are a great place to start getting cleaning up your writing and to start learning to write for different audiences. Who Prints Newsletters? Why are newsletters such a great place to start earning publications? There are plenty of organizations and groups that print them. The printing money and the circulation are already in place. The other great thing about writing newsletter articles is that there is almost always a high demand for newsletter writers. The pay is not great and is most often non-existent, but the newsletters must go out all the same. Hit up any organization in town that you know prints a newsletter. Some of the printing is done nationally for the larger organizations, but many will be done locally. Try volunteer and non-profit organizations as well as university and church groups. These organizations will all have news that they need to get to the public. Many of them survive based on public donations. What that means for you is that there is plenty of demand for talented and interesting writers. The Expert in Print If you have any sort of claim to expertise along with your writing skills, you will be a fantastic candidate for writing newsletter articles. One great draw for a reader is the pull of a well researched and authoritative article. Imagine the thrilled group of environmentalists when you approach them with evidence that the developmental process for non-stick pan coating is connected to the decreasing population of Asian tortoises. You’d have a job in no time. Regardless of whether or not you got paid for your work, you can expect that you’d get repeated assignments, growing experience and bylines galore for your next step of job applications. Being knowledgeable about a certain subject will give you many writing opportunities. If you have any experience in a subject area, be sure to add it to your resume. As you write newsletter articles, you’ll only add to you’re your expertise. Other Newsletter Articles If you don’t necessarily believe that you have an area of expertise that is not a problem. There are many other ways to get into writing newsletter articles. A big part of newsletter content is just content. Newsletters need to be made up of interesting and varied articles. There are usually volunteers that head up the projects and they in turn hire various writers to fill in the titles that they choose. If you can be flexible in your writing and if you can find a newsletter that works with a topic you care about, you will be well on your way to building your resume with bylines and great circulation. Writing newsletter articles will probably not be a career in itself because of the low pay scale, but it will take you closer to a lucrative writing career. Think of writing newsletter articles as a type of community service. Even after you have added paying pieces to your repertoire you may continue to write for the newsletters that you care about.