Copyright and the Internet

What is Copyright?

Still, to this day, Copyright and the Internet are still in a state of flux due to many issues not being resolved.

According to George Mason's University's Website , Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship" including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, architectural and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. 

As a historian, this becomes very gray and slightly confusing due to the face that material in the public domain is intellectual property. Before I proceed, the public domain refers to the creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns the work NOT any individuals. The problem is that anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it. I know it is confusing - welcome to the historian life.  Especially since a lot of work before the 20th century isn't copyrighted until around 1945 (everything is copyrighted so beware my fellow historians!).

Always be sure to add links if you are using another person's work so, the individual can see the other individuals website that you used as a reference! Don't be a moron.

American Battlefield Trust is a prime example for historians! The ABT has copyrighted all of their animated maps so whenever one wants to use this map, you must provide credit to the American Battlefield Trust! Besides, they would love to have their foundation promoted so it is a win-win for everyone!

Another example would be a fellow historian creating a research blog such as this by fellow historian Chrisptoher Fennell. He has all the rights and copyrights reserved for his research so, no one can claim his study as their own for his research on James Monroe's Land Holdings.

I hope someone learned something today!