How to use other people's content on the Internet without violating copyright? 5 simple rules

What happens if you take content without permission?

The law broadly interprets the concept of “copyright objects”. To them, for example, relate literary works, music, painting, comics, photographs, computer programs and even choreographic performances. Rights extend not only to the entire work, but also to part of it, as well as the title and characters.

Violating intellectual property rights can lead to more than just an unpleasant conversation with the content creator. If the dispute goes to court, the copyright holder may require compensation in the amount of up to several million rubles. And in case of major damage, when the author suffered losses of 100 thousand rubles, the violator faces criminal responsibility.

How to properly use other people's works

1. Agree with the author

If you like someone else's picture or melody, the easiest way is to contact the copyright holder and sign the necessary documents. There are two options:

• Agreement on alienation of exclusive rights. Provides that the author completely transfers the rights to the work, that is, it has a new owner.
• License agreement. The work can be used for a specific period and in the territory specified in the document. It can be exclusive - then the author does not have the right to give the same license to other companies or people. Or non-exclusive - there can be several licenses.

There is an option to purchase content not directly, but, for example, on paid stocks. They are available for both photographs and audio or video. Authors themselves upload works to such sites, agreeing that their work can be used by other people. You only need to register on the stock and make a subscription or a separate purchase. But it is important to carefully review the license because it may contain restrictions. According to some, authors allow their photographs to be used only on the Internet. Printing such pictures on your product will already be considered a violation of intellectual rights.

2. Use openly licensed material

Some authors publish music, photos and videos under a Creative Commons license. This means that the content is allowed to be freely used. But with reservations. There are six license types, which provide different restrictions:

• CC BY. The work can be freely used for any purpose by indicating the author.
• CC BY‑SA. Editing is permitted, but edited content must also be licensed under CC BY‑SA.
• CC BY-ND. The work cannot be changed.
• CC BY‑NC. The work may be used only for non-commercial purposes.
• CC BY‑NC‑SA. The work may be used for non-commercial purposes and edited content may be distributed under a CC BY‑NC‑SA license.
• CC BY‑NC‑ND. The item is available for non-commercial use only and may not be modified.

It is not advisable to just take photos and even memes from the Internet. For example, the author of the meme “Natasha, get up, we dropped everything there” registered it as a trademark. Now she can demand compensation through the court from those who use the picture for commercial purposes without her consent and payment of royalties.

3. Select works that have entered the public domain

According to Russian laws, the validity period of copyright ends 70 years after the death of the author, if he does not have heirs. After this, music, illustrations and other content can be taken with attribution without the risk of breaking the law.

Overseas, copyrights also have a limited duration, and thousands of works enter the public domain every year. From 2023 to modern authors available all the works of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes, the music of Louis Armstrong, the films “The Lodger” by Alfred Hitchcock and “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang.

4. Quote

In some cases you you can use excerpts from the publication without permission of the copyright holder. But it is important to credit the author and provide a link to the source material. And the size of the excerpt should be justified by the purposes of the citation - for example, to help reveal the idea of ​​the article. It is impossible to simply retell the book in its entirety. In Russia, there are cases where the publication of a summary brought the company into trouble. Thus, the author of “Write, Abbreviate” Maxim Ilyakhov sued to the Smart reading website, demanding compensation of more than 9 million rubles for violation of rights to a trademark and literary work.

5. Repeat someone else's idea

Ideas copyright do not apply, and therefore you can be inspired by someone’s work. There are several options here - do it yourself, order from another author, or use neural networks. Artificial intelligence has copyright on content Not yet. Therefore, you can ask the program to write text, come up with a melody or a picture in the style of an existing work. True, the neural network will most likely produce a draft version that you have to polish yourself.