In this episode of Hourly to Exit, we delve into the topic of copyright infringement. Copyright infringement occurs when someone violates the exclusive rights of a copyright owner. These exclusive rights include the right of reproduction, adaptation, distribution, public performance, public display, and translation.

The penalties for copyright infringement can vary, ranging from embarrassing situations that require apologies and cleanup, to more serious legal consequences. In the worst cases, copyright infringers can be criminally prosecuted.

This episode is the first of a three-part series covering copyright infringement. In part one, we discuss the remedies and penalties that apply when a copyright is infringed. Part two focuses on how to avoid being a copyright infringer. Part three explores ways to prevent your own copyrights from being infringed.

Tune in to Hourly to Exit to learn more about copyright infringement and how to protect your intellectual property.

Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Hello, ladies.

Welcome to this week's

episode of hourly to exit.

Now we talk a lot about

protecting our expertise

through copyrights and

contracts, owning and

controlling the fruits

of our expertise, aka

intellectual property.

Is the key to creating a

scalable and salable business.

Similarly, it is our

duty to respect the

rights third parties

have in their materials.

The thought leaders that

we follow, the coaches

that we learn from, the

property of our prior

employers and of our clients.

These are all examples of

intellectual property that we

come across and that we may

refer to in our own materials.

We may.

Use in providing services

to our clients, but

whether through negligence

or ignorance, if we use

other parties copyrighted

material without permission,

we may be guilty of

copyright infringement.

At best.

It is embarrassing.

We need to apologize.

We may need to clean up

a mess that we've made.

Maybe we've delivered

something to a client that

we didn't have rights to.

At worst, though, we

can get into a fair

amount of trouble under

intellectual property laws.

So this is the first of

a three part series about

copyright infringement.

In this part one, I'll talk

about what happens when

a copyright is infringed.

In part two, I talk

about how to avoid being

a copyright infringer.

And finally, in part three,

we talk about ways to

prevent your copyrights

from being infringed.

So first, what Constitutes

copyright infringement.

Copyright infringement

occurs when a party violates

any of the copyright

owner's exclusive rights.

As you recall, copyright

provides a bucket exclusive

rights to the copyright So

when you are the creator of

an original work, you have

an exclusive set of Rights

that allows you to control

your creations, how they're

used and the exclusive right

to earn compensation from

them, the exclusive right

to benefit from their use.

So, briefly, those buckets

of rights include the

right of reproduction.

That's the right to make

copies of the protected

work in any form, not just

imprinted copies or books,

but also digital downloads.

Just making a copy and,

pasting it somewhere

else in the internet.

That is exclusive right of

the copyright owner, the

right of adaptation also

called derivative rights.

So that's the right to

modify the work so you can

create a new work from it.

That new work is a derivative

of the original one, and

that is still owned by the

original copyright owner.

And so an example of

that would be turning a

book into a screenplay.

and even turning a screenplay

into a movie is actually

another, derivative, right?

The right of distribution.

So that's the right to

distribute the copies publicly

for sale or for license.

And so that is, actually

separate from the

right of reproduction.

the right of reproduction

applies whether or

not that's for sale.

so the right of

distribution, generally.

It refers to the sale or

licensing of the material, the

right of public performance.

So that would be the right to

publicly perform to, read your

novel out loud to, dance your

dance in public, to perform

the play that you wrote.

so any performance based

works, you have an exclusive

right to public performance.

The right to public display.

This typically refers to

art, the right to publicly

display your art is, that of

the copyright owners, think

about, the artwork you may

have in your home that is

original art and you own that.

Piece of artwork, but you

don't actually have the

right to publicly display it.

the copyright owner has

the right to do that and

similar to derivative rights,

the right of translation.

So to translate your work

into other language, or

to authorize a 3rd party

to do any of the things

that we talked about.

also the exclusive right

of the copyright owner.

So.

when there's a valid copyright

involved and there has not

been authorization from

the copyright owner, an

infringement when, both of

these following are present.

First, the infringer has

actually copied, you have

to actually have copied

the copyright owner's work.

sometimes, someone will

accuse someone of copying

their work, but guess what?

There's no way they could

have had access to it.

it's been under lock

and key in my drawer.

I mean, it's kind of

nutty, but people actually

do say, Oh, my God, this

is exactly what I wrote.

But no one's ever seen their

manuscript it's never been

published Maybe they sent

it to agent at some point,

but that they never did

anything with it because

it, they didn't want it.

And somebody else write

something and it seems

an awful lot like it's

been copied, but did

they actually copy it?

Did they actually have

access to That original

work that they're

claiming was infringed.

So there has to be actual

copying and then they have

to have copied enough of it

to give rise to liability.

So, taking a little

snippet here and there,

Does not generally

give rise to liability.

Now, if it's an haiku,

and you took a line out

of haiku, then, that could

give rise to liability.

But, taking a sentence out

of an entire manuscript

probably would not.

So, as you can tell,

this is not a cut and dry

analysis, the particulars

of the activity Will

determine whether or not

there has been infringement.

So, let's take the

traditional case of,

let's just say there's a

single work and, they did

not copy it literally.

or it's in its entirety.

So, when you have that

circumstance, you're

going to have to have

a fact finder, which.

Is a court of law to

figure out whether or not,

there was a copying that

gives rise to liability.

in that circumstance where

they haven't literally just

lifted the whole thing and

copied it and put their name

on it, which people do, but

generally, subtler than that.

They have been so heavily

influenced by it that It

is considered substantially

similar and that in that case,

generally, we would need a

court of law to determine

that and whether or not

there'd be liability there.

So, what we need to remember

is that the fact that we own.

A copy of that copyrighted

work does not grant to us

any of the exclusive rights

that the copyright owner has.

So, again, they have

the right to reproduce

it and to distribute,

perform it, display it,

adapt it just because I

have a copy of a book.

I don't have any of those

rights of the copyright

owner just because I have.

A piece of artwork.

I do not have any of those

rights of the copyright owner.

So some examples of

copyright infringement

that unfortunately happen

to frequently piracy,

that's downloading

or distributing of.

Copyrighted songs or

movies or TV shows

without authorization.

And that would include, even

if all you're doing is taking

them and uploading them

to YouTube, even if you're

not personally, getting any

money from it, you don't have

the right to, make copies.

And distribute somebody else's

copyrighted works, right?

reproducing artwork.

So making copies of

paintings or photographs or

graphics without permission

Selling them or displaying

them So a lot of times

this happens where people

will find an image on the

internet And they put it

on their website without

permission if you don't have

permission to use What would?

Fall into a category of

copyrighted works, then

you should assume that

somebody owns them and

you need to get permission

for, reprinting of eBooks,

especially because it's so

easy to do, to just download

something and, offer it.

Even if you're offering it

for free, if it's not yours,

that would be an infringement.

sampling, I mean, we've

all heard about, famous,

Litigation regarding someone

sampling someone's music,

and without getting clearance

from virtual creators.

We know that can be a

huge, huge liability,

unauthorized adaptations.

This one happens in

the business world.

know, I do get questions

about, hey, there's this.

Book and I want to create

a workbook based on this

book, or I want to create

a course around this book.

and so those would be

considered unauthorized

adaptations if you don't

have permission from the

copyright owner of that.

Work and then website

content, you again, people

tend to think that things

on the Internet are just

free and they are not.

So, lifting somebody

else's website content.

I think crazy when I hear

that entire websites have just

been lifted and they give it

a new URL and they go to town

with someone's entire website.

and so obviously that would

be a copyright infringement.

So remedies, remedies

that are available against

a copyright infringer.

So the primary remedy

are monetary damages,

money damages.

So the aim of monetary damages

is to Compensate the copyright

owner for the losses that they

incur due to the infringement.

So there's one, the loss

that the copyright owner

has, but also they want

to the profits that the

infringer may have realized.

Like you don't get to get.

Profits from my materials

and so the monetary damages

could be the actual damages

that the copyright holder

suffered as a direct

result of the infringement.

So that might be the lost

sales or lost licensing fees.

let's say you, generally,

I'm sell, a hundred books per

month and somebody else has

stolen it and now suddenly

you're not making any sales,

those would be actual damages

that loss of the sales

that you would typically

have made had they not.

Infringed your copyright.

similarly, the

profits attributable

to the infringement.

So let's say, they stole

your book, but somehow

they were able to sell even

selling it for 50 bucks.

Each.

They're able to sell

it for 100 bucks.

Each.

Well, you get the profits

from their 100 dollar,

per uh, sale profits.

and that's just to make

sure that the infringer

does not benefit financially

from their activities.

Under the U.

S.

laws, there are

statutory damages.

So statutory damages are

preset amounts that are set

forth under the law that the

copyright holder can opt to

receive instead of proving

actual damages or profits.

So let's say you just

have stuff that's for

free on your website.

you have free eBooks

that you give away

that are lead magnets.

and so you can't tie

directly any actual

financial loss to it.

You can't say, okay,

this is the dollar amount

and the other person

didn't sell it either.

They just took it

and used it as free.

Magnet themselves.

so there's not profits

directly attributable

to that infringement,

but you have statutory

damages that you can get.

So you can just go and say,

Hey, they copy my white paper.

They, distributed

hundred of them.

and so I, by statute get.

can range from a couple

hundred dollars per work to,

tens of thousands, depending

on the circumstances of

that infringement, but you

don't have to prove, lost

sales or prove profits on

the part of the infringer.

So that's very

valuable as well.

And, of course, all these

things require registration

the copyright we're not

talking about copyright

registration here.

But all these remedies require

that your copyright work was

registered in some cases,

you can get attorneys fees.

I mean, suing people requires

lawyers and lawyers cost

money litigation is expensive.

And so to be able to get.

your attorney's fees and cost

of infringer having to pay

for them, are those that's

among the remedies for the

infringement and maybe some

additional damages for really

egregious behavior, someone's

just just a habitual.

Infringer, they may have

putative damages that

can be multiples of what

the actual damages are.

if you are selling licensing,

revenue generating, works,

you know, I always recommend

that any revenue generating

work should be registered and

then keeping records of those.

I imagine you would be if

the revenue generating,

but those records would

be the basis of for your

monetary damages claims in

the event of infringement.

And then in addition to

money damages or monetary

damages, there are things

like injunctive relief.

So an injunction stops

someone from doing the

infringing activity.

So, you would get an

injunction to say, you

Take the white paper off

of your website, or if

someone infringed your,

right of adaptation, they

used your book as the

basis of a course, you can.

Cause them to take down

the course and stop

distributing the course.

and speaking of takedowns,

there's a thing called the

digital millennium copyright

act with takedown notices.

And so let's say you

are surfing the internet

and you see something

of yours on somebody's

website, know, there is

a process for you just to

send a takedown notice.

You don't have to get

a lawyer for this.

And you send to that

internet, to the website.

owner.

Hey, somebody posted my

materials on your website.

You send a takedown notice.

You, you tell them,

you know, this is

mine, blah, blah, blah.

And then they are required

to take that down.

and then, you if it's

something that is a physical

copy, like physical books

that are infringing.

they're be impounded or

require the destruction

of those articles.

if it's something that's

coming from overseas,

they can capture them at

the border, generally not

applicable to what we do.

but still important,

remedies in the event

that those things happen.

So what we just talked

about were all civil

penalties in the event of

a copyright infringement.

So, the question

is, are there also.

Criminal copyright

provisions, and yes, there

are the Copyright Act does

have criminal provisions.

copyright infringement

can be a crime.

So it is a criminal

offense when we willfully

infringe a copyright.

So if it's willfully

committed, and it's for,

financial gain for commercial

advantage, that Can be

criminal, especially when

the value of that commercial

game goes up, the steeper the

criminal penalties are, and

so you can, in addition to

Being sued civilly, you can

also be prosecuted criminally

for the same infringing act.

in terms of elevating

something from kind

of civil liability to

criminal liability.

courts have found

willfulness when a defendant

was given legal notice.

That his conduct was

infringing or when he

had noticed that it was

illegal, and that they

continue to do it anyway.

So for example, you

repeatedly take your

camera phone into advanced

screenings of movies and

record it and put it online.

And then, you you're

known for that.

You've been getting cease

and desist orders from

near the movie studios.

You keep doing it.

The court will likely see

your actions as being willful.

You're intentionally.

there's no negligence.

There's no even ignorance,

you know, exactly

what you're doing.

you can be criminally

charged for that.

other things that may, be

considered criminal offenses.

If you put like a fraudulent

copyright notice on something,

so, you know, something is

not yours, but you claim

it and you put a copyright

notice on it and claim

it, that can be, fraud.

Removing a copyright notice

on something for fraudulent

intent, like for some

reason, something has a

copyright notice on it.

Maybe you're trying to

sell it as your own.

And so you take off the other

person's copyright notice, in

order pass it off as your own.

That can be, Criminal

offense, making a false

representation of a material

fact on the application

for copyright registration.

When you file a copyright

registration, you are

asked to represent that.

It is original that you

are the proper owner.

this will be, significant

in the face of, AI

generated materials.

You need to state honestly,

What the origin of the

material that you're applying

for copyright registration for

and say, if you're knowingly

making false statements

on that application,

you could be criminally

prosecuted for that.

and then willfully,

and for the purposes of

commercial advantage or

private gain, I mean, is

circumventing technological,

protection measures, which

is something that we'll

actually talk about in the.

Third one where we talk

about ways to, avoid, having

your copyright infringed.

But example of that would

be like watermarking.

Like sometimes you will see,

images on the internet that

has a watermark behind it.

You can't just use it.

so there are things that you

can put on something so you

can detect, the origin of

material, if someone were to

steal it and distribute it.

circumventing can be

considered willful.

and therefore, a

criminal, offense.

the penalties for criminal

copyright infringement include

prison time and large fines.

So a first time offender

who's convicted of making

unauthorized reproductions

or distributing at least 10

copies of a work during 180

day period with a retail

value of 2500 or more.

Can be in prison for up

to five years and find

up to 250, 000 or both.

If you've previously been

convicted of criminal

copyright infringement so

you're a recidivist, you

can be sentenced up to a

maximum of 10 years in prison

of the 250, 000 in fine.

Or both and then for

misdemeanors up to 1 year

in prison and a maximum

fine of 100, 000, which

is not insignificant.

that is our overview of.

Copyright infringement, what

it is, the civil penalties

and the criminal penalties

for copyright infringement.

And so, join me in

the next session.

We will talk about how to

make sure you are not guilty

of copyright infringement.

Thanks guys.

See you next time.