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US copyright law
U.S. Copyright Law Covers Artistic Expression and Creative and Intellectual Works
The US Copyright Law grants rights to individuals for the works they create. The US Copyright Act of 1790 has changed over the years. The current basis of US copyright law is based on the Copyright Act of 1976. US copyright law is relatively automatic. Once someone has an idea and produces it in tangible form, the creator is the copyright holder and has the authority to enforce his exclusivity to it. In other words, the person is the owner of the creation. It is not necessary that a person register their work. However, it is recommended and it can serve as evidence if someone ever violates a copyright. It is interesting to note that when an employer hires an employee to produce a work that the copyright is given to the employer.
Violations of US Copyright Law are generally enforced in a civil court setting. However, there could also be criminal sanctions brought against someone who violates US copyright law. Someone that is in serious violation of US Copyright Law such as counterfeiting can find themselves on the inside of prison looking out. People need to understand that the copyright symbol is not a requirement. Someone may have a copyright, yet their work may not have a copyright notice or symbol.
US Copyright Law covers a wide range of things that are derived from artistic expression, intellectual or creative work. This includes things such as literary works, music, drawings, photographs, software, movies, choreographic works such as ballets and plays, poems, paintings and more. The law covers the form of expression, not the concept, facts or the actual idea of the work. This means that someone can use another person’s idea or concept and produce their own take on it. However, copying another person’s work is a violation. It should be noted that some things may not be copyrighted but they may be protected by a patent or trademark.
Individuals who have a copyright on a particular piece of work can do with it what they will. They may choose to copy it and sell it. They may display their work or perform it in public and charge admission, or they can assign or sell the work to someone else. Individuals who have a copyright can also choose to do nothing with their work, if that is their desire. However, if someone comes along and takes the work and tries to use it in some way, that person is still in violation of the owner’s copyright. Copyrights cover published and unpublished work.
Anyone who is in the creative arts arena should be very careful that they do not violate US Copyright Law. For that matter, anyone who is a fan of the creative arts should make sure they are not in violation of a copyright. Simple things like uploading, downloading and sharing music or movie files can result in serious charges and fines being brought against them. With the popularity of the Internet and file sharing software there many copyrights are currently being violated. Copyright owners are starting to take a stand against them and are hunting down the perpetrators. Be careful that you are not overstepping your boundaries and violating someone’s copyright law.
Craigslist a Great Place to Find Free Stuff – While Exercising Caution of Course Craig Newmark of San Francisco founded Craigslist in 1999. Craigslist is a web page that offers anybody to sell or by articles virtually free of charge. Some of the categories such as job ads in some of the major cities have a charge, which is the funding for all the other private, free ads on Craigslist. Currently the web page is available in approximately 450 cities all over the world. IT serves more than nine billion viewers per months and therefore gives the web page a ninth place in the rankings for most frequently used web sites in the United States. The web sites offer over thirty million new postings and classifieds each month. Categories for classifieds and advertisement range from job and housing postings over traditional buy and sell classifieds all the way to community events and personal ads. Since Craigslist offers so many different ads and classifieds each month, it is also a great place to find free stuff. Many people that are about to move or have top give up a hobby due to whatever reason often times offer things for free on this web page. Generally ads and classifieds are divided by categories and then listed on the pages depending on the proximity to a major city. Many major cities in the United States have their own Craigslist. Classifieds that are posted on a city site generally are from somewhere in the proximity of the city. Often time’s sellers expect the buyer to pick up the merchandise. Therefore, it is not unusual to find car ads, fitness equipment, baby clothing and items, furniture and more on the web site. Posting is for most classifieds free and there are also no fees for anything else. In contrast to some other pages, posting a used children’s toy, a piece of furniture or similar as well as anything else is completely free. The seller has the possibility to stay anonymous till shortly before the sale, when the seller decides to hand out his or her telephone number or address for sale purposes only. Of course such classifieds and advertisements can also be cons and need to always be handled carefully. Generally a good judgment of the price and offer helps to prevent from falling for fraudulent classifieds. Even though there are measures from the creators of the website to prevent fraud such as official statements and more, there is no guaranty that a fraudulent add will be taken off in time to prevent any trouble. So whenever buying or selling on Craigslist do it with caution. Craigslist offers classifieds for anything. Community, housing, personals, jobs, for sale, services, gigs and even discussion forums are all part of the web site. On this website anybody can post anything. Therefore it might take some time to find the right ad. It might even be possible that the chosen product cannot be found. Craigslist works like an online yard sale or a flea market. Therefore finding the exact product may be hard. But sometimes getting lucky is all that it takes and then the seeker is united with the product of desire. This web page should be used and supported by anybody and everybody. Whatever there is for sale, it should be put up on Craigslist, so that other people can male good use of a product that might be a good product for someone else for a few more years. Even jobs can be found on Craigslist. In cities such as New York, this web page’s jobs are one of the most important sources for job hunters and therefore are not free of charge for the employers that are posting in some of the bigger cities. Helpful Hints on Getting Better Respect in the Workplace Sometimes, an inhospitable work atmosphere can ruin the best job in the world. If you work in an office where people don’t respect each other and you feel undervalued and taken advantage of, then you are likely to give up and move on--no matter how much you love the work. When people work closely together, disagreements and problems are bound to arise from time to time. There are, however, ways you can get more respect in the workplace, so you don’t have to dread heading to the office every morning. As the old adage goes, you have to give respect to get respect. Are you doing everything you can to treat your co-workers with dignity and respect? Put another way, are you doing everything you can to avoid annoying everyone in the office? There are a lots of little ways you can make the day more pleasant for everyone, including showing up on time for work and for in-house meetings, not talking too loudly on the phone, keeping your personal cell phone ringtone on silent or vibrate, and cleaning up when you use the common break rooms and kitchen area. Things like spamming everyone in the office with incessant “funny” emails, sending political or religious emails (or challenging everyone on political or religious issues), or invading privacy by looking at someone else’s emails, phone messages, or mail are also not a good idea in the office setting. Then there are the big ones – you should never take credit for someone else’s work, talk behind people’s backs, lie, steal from other’s desks (even if it is just a post-it note or white-out), or have a general bad argumentative attitude. If you are doing anything of these things, trying to correct your own behavior is the first step to earning a little more respect in the workplace. What happens if you are doing everything you can and you still aren’t getting the respect you feel you deserve in the office? How you handle things may partly depend on who is showing you the disrespect. Are your subordinates treating you like you’re not the boss? In this case, having a little one on one conversation might do the trick. It doesn’t have to confrontational. You can simply point out that you are getting the impression that they may be having a little trouble with your leadership style and offer them a chance to raise any problems. If they bring up a legitimate problem, then there is something you can work on to make things go smoother in the future. If they can’t point to any one thing, let them know politely, but firmly, what you will need from them going forward in terms of respect. And then, stick to it and hold them accountable for their behavior. If your boss is not respecting you, things can get a little trickier. If your boss has a bad attitude, being pulled up on it by his subordinates is probably not going to do much to improve it. Your company may have a grievance policy in place to deal with issues like this, and it is best to go down this path when dealing with a boss with a respect issue. There are some respect issues in the work place that can’t be resolved with the softly, softly approach. If you are being persecuted on the basis of your gender, your race, your disability, or your sexual preference, you have a right to demand a stop to that at once. If the abuse is coming from your co-workers, go straight to your boss. If your boss is unresponsive, or if your boss is the offender, go right over their head, and keep going until you get some satisfaction. |