Understanding U.S. Copyright

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 22 What is Copyright? A property right attached to an original work of art, literature or research. It grants the author or creator exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, adapt, perform, or display the protected work. Unless the author has extended all or part of the rights, no one is authorized to use, copy or alter the work. An author(s) can seek and recover compensation in a court of law if wrongful use is shown.* *from Module 3, HR Development, created by HR Certification Institute & Society for Human Resource Management, 2010

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 33 What kinds of works bear a copyright? Written materials – books, articles, pamphlets, training materials, advertising and marketing pieces Music – songs, jingles, scores, our CENTURY 21 jingle Photographs, digital images, sketches, architectural drawings Movies – movie clips, YouTube videos

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 44 Who owns Copyright? Generally speaking, if you create something, you own copyright (automatically, with/without label or if you file with the U.S. Copyright Office) –Exceptions? Absolutely. As employees of Century 21 Real Estate LLC and Realogy, you do not hold copyright of slides, materials, etc. createdthe corporation does (see the bottom of this slide) Contractors for hire do not own the copyright, Century 21 Real Estate LLC does as we contracted with them to deliver a product.

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 55 What does in the Public Domain Mean? It is work that belongs to the public as a whole. –Examples: Government documents and works Works with an expired copyright or no existing protection Works from the time of the authors death PLUS 75 years (such as Mozart, Melville, Hawthorne, Bach)* Most of RE content is not in the public domain with the exception of any government facts, figures, reports produced. NAR and its subsidiaries are not public domain. *HRCI & SHRM, 2010

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 66 Paraphrasing vs. Requiring Copyright Permission Paraphrasing –Annotating or quoting () what you read or saw in a periodical, web page, etc. –Must give attribution to where you found it, who wrote it and date. –Simply stated, use an asterisk (*) and write the annotation off to the side or put the author, year and/or page in parentheses (Murphy, 2010, p. 3) in or after the sentence/paragraph. Copyright Permission –Done when you want to replicate an item or passage Replication = reproduce (copies, cut/paste, insertions) Must accompany a permission to use from the copyright holder Usually accompanied with a cost to use Tina can take care of this if you ever need it

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 77 When in Doubt… Dont use it. –Be careful of using Google Images and other items you find on the web (e.g., just because its on YouTube does not mean its copyright neutral). –Most photos/graphics have digital tracking behind them! Ask Carolyn or Tina –We need to ensure that all the material is fit to use and meets the thresholds of our franchise agreements and ethics policy/regulations –If the material is substantive enough that it will lend itself to the learning experience, we can file for use permission PRIOR to the session.

Copyright © 2011 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All rights reserved. 88 Important Considerations The law of copyrights is not substantively changing with respect to commercial use While we see people co-opting others work on Facebook® or YouTube®, we are not permitted to do so We are a commercial business venture so we must pay or receive permission to use copyrighted works in our business The sharing or reprinting of information that is common now through social media may put C21 at risk for copyright litigation