Lately, I’ve seen a lot of discussion about copyright issues. Specifically, what is legal to use on a blog, website or in a book.

Today, instead of giving you all the facts, I thought we’d have some fun and take a little quiz. We’ll do part one today, and part two in the next post.

COPYRIGHT QUIZ—HOW FAMILIAR ARE YOU WITH THE LAW?

All the answers are True or False, so let’s get on with the quiz!

1. I can legally post any picture on my blog if I link back to the place I got it.

FALSE: photos, sketches, graphics, any kind—are covered by the same copyright law as our written words.

Unfortunately, there is lots of sharing going on over the Internet and it’s not legal. When we borrow photos without permission, even when we acknowledge where we got it, we are stealing. I truly believe that’s not the intent, but we need to educate ourselves on what’s right and what’s not and then lead by example.

2. If I can find it in public places, like the World Wide Web, it’s in public domain and legal to use.

FALSE: Public domain is a legal definition and has nothing to do with the availability of an image or text or music. For instance, do you know why many times people don’t use the familiar Happy Birthday song? It’s because someone owns the copyright to it and, except for private use, it’s illegal to use without permission.

The picture above is another example. The copyright to the photo is owned by my close friend, Mary Denman, a professional photographer. But you can find it on the Internet on her site. It is Watermarked and this is another clear sign that the photo cannot be used without her permission. I can’t count the number of sites I’ve been on where there are watermarked pictures everywhere.

3. I can legally use a song’s title in a post, article or book.

TRUE: Song titles are the ONLY part of a song we may use legally. There is something in the copyright law called fair use. Without boring you by quoting the law, it means that you can refer to part of a work without being sued. Contrary to what some think, there is no set number of words or percentage that makes up fair use. Instead, there are four factors used to define it.

• the purpose and character of your use.
• the nature of the copyrighted work.
• what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken.
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Because of the small size of a song, say compared to a book, the courts have decided that quoting ANY portion of a song, except the title is a copyright infringement. The reason you can quote a title? Titles cannot be copyrighted.

4. I can legally use someone’s blog post as long as I give them credit and don’t change anything.

FALSE: You cannot legally borrow someone’s blog post without their permission, even if you give them credit or link back to it. Now, there are some sites that post guidelines for you to follow to be able to use their posts. But this doesn’t mean it’s legal to do so for another site. The only exception to this is the Reblog button found on some blogs. This allows someone to repost the blog article legally.

5. I can legally use music or a song as background for an original video as long as I credit the source.

FALSE: I imagine many of you got this one correct. There has been so much written and so many fines leveed in regard to stolen music, it’s almost common knowledge that you cannot borrow a song or music for your own purposes.

Be sure to stay tuned for parts two and three on this series on copyright issues.

***

Edie Melson is the bestselling author of Social Media Marketing for Writers and a devotional for military families, Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle. She is a prolific freelance writer, editor, and co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, as well a faculty member at numerous others. Visit her popular writing blog, The Write Conversation at www.thewriteconversation.blogspot.com.