15 Issue One, Two Thousand and Twenty-Five www.aadej.org GUEST FEATURE A copyright is one type of intellectual property that is extremely important in the world of journalism and publishing. Essentially, copyright law protects original works of authorship, including, but not limited to photographs, books, articles, screenplays, movies, paintings, and songs. A copyright owner has the exclusive rights to reproduce or profit off of their underlying work, among other things, along with the right to authorize others to utilize these exclusive rights, subject to various limitations. At the time of creation, when the work is fixed in a tangible form of expression, a copyright automatically comes into existence. Copyright owners are not required to register their original work; however, they may register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office for a nominal fee to get, among other things, and as noted by the U.S. Copyright Office, stronger protection, the ability to sue for copyright infringement, and seek statutory damages. The U.S. Copyright Office provides that copyright protection has a current term of the life of the author plus 70 years after the author’s death. Furthermore, the current copyright protection term for works made for hire and anonymous or pseudonymous works, is the shorter of 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation. Presently, renewal or extension of the duration of the copyright term is prohibited. Therefore, works will become part of the public domain once the applicable copyright term expires. That being said, the public domain consists of a pool of works that can be used whenever without permission from the copyright owner. It is crucial for journalists to keep in mind that copyright law can be beneficial when it comes to protecting their own work, and this article can be used as a quick study guide when creating your journalistic work. Facts, alone, are not protected by copyright law. However, the text of the work, via the way or sequence by which the work is stylized or written, along with the use of any original photographs throughout the work might be protectable under copyright law. If you edit or journal from the freelance side, you should be aware of your ownership rights in your work and how to enforce said rights. By way of example, if you produce a work for publication in a newspaper or magazine (and it is agreed upon that you retain all of the rights in the aforementioned work), and that newspaper or magazine would like to publish your work for a second time somewhere else, they need to seek your approval for that secondary publication and if agreed upon, give you compensation for same. If you wish to utilize a copyrighted material as part of your publication, please keep in mind that you do not obtain carte blanche rights to use the aforementioned material without permission just because the piece is accessible on the Internet or other akin sources. In fact, approval from the copyright owner is required in most cases to avoid potential claims of infringement via service of a cease-and-desist letter or a lawsuit. Specifically, if permission for the requested use of the copyrighted work is granted by the copyright owner, such permission is often awarded by way of a license agreement which might be accompanied by a fee. The Fair Use Doctrine is another mechanism to keep in mind when creating editorial pieces or journalistic works. Under the Fair Use Doctrine, as delineated in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, limited use of a copyrighted work might be permitted without authorization from the copyright owner in certain circumstances. Numerous factors are considered when determining fair use as outlined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, Copyright Law and the Importance of Protecting Your Publication Cameron A. Parks, Esq.*
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