10 Tips to Ensure Your Blog Doesn’t Break Copyright Laws

This is a guest post by Tom Walker, of Creative Cloud

Many bloggers out there are not aware of the fact that copying someone else’s written work without their consent is a violation of copyright law. Blogging is becoming more and more widespread and technology makes it simple to copy and share information including text, images, audio and video clips. Below are ten tips that you can follow to ensure that your blog’s content is legal.

Quotes and Copy

1. It is perfectly legal to quote something that you find interesting, but the quote you use should only be a small portion of the content and it should not copy the ‘core’ of the material.
2. Certainly do not ever copy someone’s website, word for word. Believe it or not, many bloggers still do this and it is unethical as well as against the law.
3. Do not copy verbatim from a book or offer your readers long book excerpts. Again, this work is copyrighted and if you wish to use a book’s content, get in touch with the author and explain what you would like to use their work for.
4. You can legally use a company name on your blog as long as you are not being deceptive to your readers, such as trying to speak for the company or try to make it seem like you are directly related to the company.

Images and symbols

1. Many bloggers make the mistake of using any image they find online, but in fact many images are indeed owned by someone and are copyrighted. For images, be sure to use websites that allow you to search for and buy images such as Fotolia which consists of over 7 million photos and illustrations from which to choose. It should go without saying that you are of course, free to use your own images on your blog.
2. Feel free to use other types of materials that are not copyrighted such as names, familiar symbols or short phrases and slogans. You may still need to follow attribution rules and regulations, such as when media is made available under the Creative Commons license.
3. Just because you credit the author does not mean that you are not breaking copyright laws. This goes for text as well as for images. You are only allowed to use copyrighted material if you have received direct permission from the author or if you make fair use of it, without trying to deceive.
4. Just because your blog may not be for commercial use, you still cannot copy material. A blogger using stolen material for commercial gain is an open target for a lawsuit, but you are still breaking the law with your personal blog if you have not been been granted permission to use an author’s work.

Music and videos

1. When including music on your blog, avoid linking to illegally copied songs on P2P networks such as BitTorrent. Instead, use a website such as EzTracks. The music downloads are free and the site pays the royalty fees via their banner advertising. MusicBakery is another good pick wherein you have numerous categories to select from.
2. If you want to add videos to your blog, do not stream content from your television to your blog as you will be in violation of the law. Avoid putting obviously copyrighted video clips on your blog. The laws for video usage are much the same as they are for text. Regarding YouTube videos, the YouTube website states that the content is for personal use only and may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced or distributed without the consent of the owners. So, in short, either shoot your own videos or contact the video owner and ask for written consent to publish their videos on your blog.

This is a general guide, which was not written by a lawyer. It is an overview for you to use while blogging to ensure that you are not breaking any obvious copyright laws when blogging. A good rule of thumb to follow is ‘when in doubt, throw it out’ meaning you should not use any else’s written work, music or video without explicit, written consent from the author or owner.

This guest post was written by a blogger and designer from the UK called Tom Walker who works with an online store supplying HP 350 ink and toner as well as various other supplies. He blogs about print media design and advertising on CreativeCloud.