Today is the second in my series on copyright. It’s critical that each of us has a working knowledge of what we can and cannot use on our blogs legally.

 That said, I’m not a lawyer and this should not be construed as legal advice. If you’ve been notified that you are in violation of copyright, I recommend you contact legal counsel.

Now on to the facts!

6. I can legally post YouTube videos on my blog or website.

TRUE: This one was a little tricky. You can legally post YouTube videos on your site, because what you’re doing is linking, not reposting. Even when you embed videos, they are still linked to YouTube.

7. If I don’t make money off of it, it’s legal for me to use.

FALSE: Whether you profit from borrowing someone else’s work has no bearing on the legality.

I have an opinion about all the borrowing that is happening around the Internet. I may be an optimist, but this is my personal opinion.

I think a lot of bloggers are generous folks…to a fault. They frequently offer their own work to others for free. With this mindset as a foundation, it doesn’t always occur to them to think of what they’re doing as stealing—they don’t see other’s borrowing as stealing, after all.

That said, I applaud the generosity with our own work. But, we should also be willing to guard the uniqueness and value of the work of others.

I can legally quote a small percentage of the words to a song in a post, article or book.

8. I can legally quote a small percentage of the words to a song in a post, article or book.

FALSE: We are all used to being able to quote passages from books and not get into any kind of copyright infringement. I am here to tell you, that is NOT the case with a song. The only part of a song you may quote is the title.

If you’ve seen songs quoted in published books either someone paid a use fee or the author wrote the song himself. I’ve known of two authors who self-published books and had to pull the books because of songs quoted without permission.

9. If I don’t have a copyright symbol on my work it’s not covered by copyright law.

FALSE: Copyright symbols are visual REMINDERS that what you’re reading belongs to someone. Just because there isn’t one doesn’t affect the status of what you see in print or online. If someone wrote it, it’s copyrighted.

SPECIAL NOTE: You do not have to apply for a copyright for your work…EVER. You can register your copyright, but it’s expensive and cumbersome to do. And it’s rarely necessary.

10. I can legally download photos from Facebook to use on my own site.

TRUE: This is another trick question I snuck in. Because of the user agreement you signed when you registered for a Facebook account you agreed that your photos were able to be used by them for different online purposes. This makes it VERY difficult to prove in a court of law that you don’t mean that permission for everyone else on Facebook. So, if I post my Niagara Falls vacation photos on Facebook, I can’t complain if you borrow them.

Now, it’s always good manners to ask permission, but it’s probably not going to get you in any legal trouble.

ANOTHER SPECIAL NOTE: If the person posting the photo did so illegally, and you repost it, then you are just as guilty and can also be charged with copyright infringement.

Be sure to stay tuned for the final post in this series.

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Social Media Coach, Edie Melson

Edie Melson is a freelance writer and editor with over 16 years experience in the publishing industry, with her popular writing blog, The Write Conversation. Edie has become known as one of the go-to experts on Twitter, Facebook, and social media for writers wanting to learn how to plug in. Her bestselling e-book, Social Media Marketing for Writers, is available on Kindle and Nook. Edie is also the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and Southwest Christian Writers Studio, as well as a popular faculty member at numerous others. Edie is also the Assistant Acquisitions Editor for www.ChristianDevotions.us. Her devotional book, Fighting Fear, Winning the War at Home, debuts on Veterans Day, 2011. (www.winningthewarathome.com) Contact her at: socialmedia@mybooktherapy.com.