Copyright

Media products today will always be protected by being ‘copyrighted’. This means that anything within that product, it may be a sound, film, typographical publication, music, art or anything that person creates cannot be taken and used by a different author and used elsewhere without the creators permission. In basic terms it stops people stealing other peoples products, if they do this it is illegal and they will be open to prosecution. Media companies copyright their products so it is theirs, no one else can legally take any elements from it without consent.

For example if I were to create a website of which I copyrighted and then you came on to my site and chose to copy an image from it and use it for your own product, this would be breaching the copyright laws which state you cannot use my work until 70 years after I had passed away.

Today, much of the interactive media industry will actually use items from different projects and companies much of the time, this can be okay as long as they have consent or they do not breach copyright laws, if they do this they are open to having their company to be sued by the original owners of the items and prosecuted. If you are ever unsure of using objects from another person’s product it is advisable to ask for permission before proceeding to use their content.

Another issue surrounding copyright is websites which allow people to illegally pass on data to other users for free, being able to download games, music and film without the creators consent. These are sites such as ‘Utorrent’. They let you search for media products which are downloadable, people will upload items for many to download free of charge. In essence this deteriorates that company’s profit margin because if people support these sites, they are not paying for the media product. The sites themselves are breaking the law. This is a different type of copyright breach as it is not people taking items from another company to use for their own product, but to just use for free.

As copyright laws are so strict and can often be so difficult to bypass, companies can often become too cautious with what they use, even if they have created everything for their product themselves, it may be too similar to previous ones in the past created by different authors.

So to in some ways avoid this, the ‘creative commons’ act comes in. This basically encourages people to share their creativity and work so others can learn from them and then create their own work. Copyright was created before the internet existed and today there is so much content on the web, it can be difficult to create anything without using elements from different existing sources.

Creative commons creates a balance between the original copyright rules and the ability to share creativity, anyone from small, to the largest companies can have the creative commons act, there is no difference. Another reason for creating the creative commons act is that it helps to ‘realize the full potential of the internet.’ This means that by having a ‘some rights reserved’ approach to copyright rather than an ‘all rights reserved’ one that people can share ideas and promote creativity not just with each other, but inspire themselves to create a better product themselves.

Now this still by far does not mean if a company has the creative commons act that people can just take anything they wish from them without permission, it is more focused to collaboration of companies in order to create a better final product. But companies can create places of which they store all files of which they are happy to share with the online world, which is also inside the laws of copyright. This is important so people can’t just distribute products like they would do on illegal sites such as ‘Utorrent’.

In today’s world it is essential to find a balance between sharing content freely and have copyright laws put in place. Without these laws anything you potentially create, someone could steal and you may never be sure if a product you buy was put online by the original creator. The ideas behind copyright is to protect content, but those who also want to contribute to the industry and have creative commons may wish to share some of their work for others to learn off of, use and change for their own use or inspire for new projects.