Misconceptions About Online Copyright

When it comes to marketing plastic surgery practices online, it's important that you understand online copyright. A good plastic surgery website will include lots of content, but creating all of that content can bring up some issues about copyright.

Online copyright, whether it be about website or email content, is a very misunderstood issue. There are many misconceptions out there and, unfortunately, too many people are finding out about them the hard way. Copyright laws can and are being enforced online. In truth, the moment that anything is created, be it written or drawn, it is the creator who owns the copyright.

The following are important points to remember about online copyright:

• It's not okay to simply copy and paste anything that you find online and reproduce it on your site. You must first get specific permission to use any file or graphic from the site owner.
• Simply noting the author's name does not allow you to use a site's content on your own website. While giving credit is certainly a good thing, you must also make sure to ask for the author's permission to post their work on your site.
• Linking to graphics on other sites so that they display on your site is not okay either. Though you may not have actually downloaded the graphic onto your server, it's still not okay. Again, ask for permission.
• You cannot display a page from another website within a frame on your site. This can give the impression, whether intended or not, that you created the information. It's better to link to the information and have it open in a new window when a visitor clicks on the link.
• Quoting a portion of another site's content, even if you include a link to their site, isn't okay either. Again, ask permission first.
• Because you pay someone to create the graphics you use on your website, this doesn't necessarily mean that you own the copyright to those graphics. Your agreement with the graphic artist must specifically state that all rights are transferred to you upon payment, otherwise you probably only have exclusive license to use those graphics.
• Assuming that email is no longer copyright protected once it's been sent is also false. Once created, an email is copyrighted by the author. As such, you cannot publicly post an email that was sent to you privately. In order to publicly post any email sent to you, you must first get the express and written consent of the author.