Lesson 4 – About Copyright | Wiz's eBay Template Design Course

Lesson 4 – About Copyright

About Copyright…

Before we dig deeper into learning about HTML coding and creating our own template we should probably learn a little about copyright and what it means. This can help protect you in two ways:

it will keep you out of trouble over copyright issues involving others’ work, and
it will help you secure your own valuable rights on your original work you create.

Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org/), the online “Free Encyclopedia” defines copyright as: “a set of exclusive rights that regulate the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally the rights to copy an original creation.”

It goes on to say, “Copyright law covers only the form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the form of material expression. It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. For example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney’s particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be deemed imitative of the original.

Detailed information about copyright laws, how to register a copyright and other related issues can be found at the U.S. Government Copyright Office website (http://www.copyright.gov/).

Copyright law means you just can’t copy someone else’s entire listing template without permission. Copying the underlying HTML code for someone’s listing template and then changing background colors or graphics, title and othe design graphics, and perhaps font style and text color may not be enough to make the template yours. The basic layout, in total, will in all likelihood still retain enough of the original to retain copyright. It is a difficult thing to know where the boundary lies and what exactly makes a listing template original.

Certainly there can be no claim of originality to a general design layout, say, a background graphic, two nested graphic frames and centered title, three pictures and description in the middle.

You will find, also, that you can copy and paste blocks of code from existing sites and use them for your own templates. It’s not a bad idea to keep a document just for pasting in code snippets you can use later. Be sure to put comment lines in between code snippets to identify what the snippet is, and what it does, because you are sure to forget later on. Keeping these code snippets properly separated this way also helps ensure you will get the whole snippet you want and not just part of one (or two) which may confuse you when your code doesn’t do what you expect.

Just how much can you copy? That’s a complex issue and their is no easy answer, which is why copyright lawers get paid so much. Individual HTML tags themselves, and even code snippets that handle a single function, can’t be copyrighted. HTML is in the public domain and therefore free to use in any way you like. Generally accepted constructions for doing single tasks, like how to center a graphic or how to align text, cannot be copyrighted so pretty much any code snippet, unless it is some very unique and artful way of doing something, would be fair game for you to copy. Copy code snippets that do a single thing, not whole pages that define a unique design, and you should be okay.

Whole pages (ie: the concept, design, layout and content) are copyrighted to their creator or to the company for whom the work was done if a fee was paid. Don’t take a whole layout, then change the pictures and text and call it yours. Create your own layouts. A little imagination goes a long way. The more you learn about HTML, the easier it will get, too!

Graphics are likely to also be protected by copyright. Unless they come from some source that you know to be public domain, or where the copyright holder specifically gives you (personally or in a public statement on the site) permission for their use, you can expect that someone owns the rights to them. I’ve seen a lot of obviously copyrighted pictures posted on the chat boards. Just because someone else posts it doesn’t make it free. Also, I’ve seen people go to a lot of trouble to protect their graphics when what they really have are public domain images they have taken from some other site. If it’s already in the public domain you can use it any way you want, but you cannot claim public domain graphics for your own and expect to assert copyright protection over them. They are available for public use no matter how you have made use of them.

Just because you don’t know it’s coyrighted doesn’t let you off the hook, either. For the most part, however, you won’t be in much trouble if something does turn out to be copyrighted and you’ve used it only on a personal page. Remember though that ebay auctions and even eBay About Me pages are commercial. You may think selling on eBay is just a hobby. To the owner of the copyrighted picture you are using as your logo or mascot, however, you are making money from his work — you are in the business of selling for a profit — and the artist or copyright holder is entitled to be compensated for the use of his images! If you explain that you didn’t know and agree to immediaely remove the image(s) you will probably be fine. Most people won’t pursue a copyright claim beyond the removal of the offending usage, but don’t use that as an excuse to use protected property until someone catches you at it. If you want to keep using the copyright protected graphic, see if you can negotiate a suitable price to continue. If it’s a good graphic, if it adds to your listing, then it’s probably worth the price.

I’ve found that most graphic artists are flattered that I want to use one or more of their graphics and are glad to earn a little for their work. They will usually negotiate a fair price for use of their work and sometimes will even allow it to be used free if you provide a statement of their ownership and copyright. It never hurts to ask. If you can’t come to a negotiated settlement be prepared to remove the graphic immediately. In fact, it is a show of good faith to remeove the graphic before you start negotiating and only replace it in use if you are successful in coming to an agreement.

Looking at the underlying code of other websites and listing templates is a good way to learn how something is done. Copying pieces of the code and experimenting with them to see exactly what they do and what happens when you change things is a good way to learn. Using a good HTML editor that has a preview mode makes this easy. We’ll talk about editors in another lesson.

As we’ve learned already, there are significant differences between full websites and listings templates. This course is a website with many pages. I’ve coded each of these, for the most part, in the way I might code a listing template, rather than a website, so you will be able to look at these pages and see some of the HTML code in use that you will learn about for your own template design coding. You have my permission to copy and work with any of the coding on these pages, though you cannot duplicate or distribute the course content in any way.

The coding for this course, for the most part, is according to XHTML v1.0 but you will notice that the DOCTYPE statement for each page also indicates transitional. I do this because I’ve been coding for a long time, since the very first release of HTML, and old habits die hard. I have probably slipped up in a few places and reverted to some old favorite coding methods. I’ve tried to be careful and not do this but it is likely to happen every now and then. The term transitional allows the use of previous HTML coding methods without confusing the browser. In other words, it allows for backward compatibility in your coding.

It’s always a good idea to try to use the newest coding methods and to never use deprecated tags, but when copying from other pages you are likely to run into some older code. Re-writing older code into the latest coding methods is a great way to ensure that code is now your original work. But remember, just as there is not likely a single original bar of music that could be written today, there is not likely a single HTML code snippet that hasn’t been written a thousand times before. It is the entire composition, or the significant parts thereof, that is copyright, not the minor component pieces.

There has been a great deal of questioning and concern about whether or not you have to register your copyright and even if you have to post a copyright notice on your work. There have been many amendments to copyright law subsequent to the U.S. signing the Berne Convention (the international copyright treaty) in 1992. In member countries there is no requirement that a copyright notice be posted on a work in order for it to be protected under the laws governing copyright. The fact that it is your original work means you own the copyright at the time of creation of the work.

You do not have to register your copyright for it to be valid either. Registration of a copyright is only required if legal action is to be taken and the registration does not have to be in place before the event occurred which lead to the action. It only has to be in place before the trial takes place.

It is a good idea to post a copyright notice on anything you consider to be protected under copyright law, however. First, this is simply a good idea as it lets other know immediately that the work is protected. But it is also important in that not all countries that respect copyright are members of the Bern Convention. In many of these countries it is important that the copyright notice be visible on the work for it to be enforced.

Posting a copyright notice isn’t the only important thing. Posting it correctly is also important. A correct copyright notice generally consists of the word copyright followed by the initial date of the copyright (when the work was created) and the name of the legal entity (person or corporation) that holds the copyright. It would look something like this:

The word by may, or may not, be included. Also the copyright symbol, a small letter c in a circle (©) may, or may not, be included after the word copyright:

If you do not know how to display the copyright symbol (©) then you should not use it. Do not substitute the letter c by itself or a c in brackets. All of these:

are incorrect and could result in negation of a copyright in some countries.

Note also that the entity holding the copyright must exist and be legal. Using your own name for your own work is always valid. Using a legally incorporated company name is also valid but may have some issues to consider. You’ll want to clarify this with your corporate lawyer. Using a made up name, like your eBay ID is probably not valid. Using an invalid copyright notice may not always void your copyright, but it may, so be sure you know what you are doing if you use anything other than your own name in the notice.

If the work you are protecting under copyright has significant real value or is seriously important to you then you should check with an experienced copyright attorney before publishing. The information I have included above is general in nature and should not be considered legal advice.

What Have We Learned…

In this fourth lesson we have learned:

Copyright is an important issue.
Our original work is automatically protected under copyright law when it is created.
We don’t have to have a copyright notice for protection ion Berne Convention countries.
It is still a good idea to put a copyright notice on our work anyway.
We do not have to register our copyright for it to be vailid.
We should not copy, or use, works of others without permission.
We can use work in the public domain in anyway we like but we cannot claim copyright on it.

Copyright is a serious subject. When in doubt, don’t! And always ask permission before you do. Your next lesson will be available whenever you are.

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