Copyrights,
Registration and Other Rights
By Gary Thomas
If you find the subject of copyrights, registration
and author rights as it pertains to agency-owned publications as confusing
as me, then you'll agree that this is a subject that we need to cover
in the "Balance Wheel." And that is what we intend
to do.
It is our intention to do an
extensive and definitive feature story in either our spring (or summer)
issue of the "Balance Wheel" on that topic. The story
will also discuss these rights as they relate to the Internet.
We'd also like to publish some
"local" stories"; information about more restrictive
laws or regulations your state might have, copyright horror stories,
funny stories, or whatever you might have to offer.
Here's an example: I spent a
great deal of time writing a particular story and showed it to an agent
who immediately had it copyrighted in his name! I was prepared to sue,
but fortunately that wasn't necessary.
Do you have any questions about
this topic you'd like answered? Drop me a note. We'll try to get them
answered in the story. Any advice you might have on story direction
would be appreciated as well.
You can drop me a note at: Illinois
DNR, Attn: Gary Thomas, 524 S. Second St., Springfield, Ill. 62701,
call me at 217/782-7454, or E-mail me at: gthomas@dnrmail.state.il.us.
Here's another example, this
one from Mike Smith. According to Mike, photos from the national audiovisual
collection in Washington DC or the National Conservation Training Center
in West Virginia are Fish and Wildlife Service photos free and clear
and in the public domain.
"I would emphasize, however,
that not every image in an FWS publication is in the public domain,"
Mike says. "In fact, we buy publication rights and use a lot of
copyrighted material, and always indicate whether an image is copyrighted.
This is not a guarantee, however, that all FWS offices are using the
copyright symbol with copyrighted images, so people should be sure to
check in advance before copying or using an image from an FWS publication."
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