Are You Fair Game? - Industry Trend or Event

Home Office Computing, July, 2000 by Cristina Gair

Protect your creative work online and off

EVER FOUND YOUR ARTWORK OR TEXT printed on a T-shirt, parked on a Web site, or reproduced in a book without your permission? Or a toy based on figures in your paintings? For Don Troiani, a Civil War artist and historian, fighting copyright infringement is just part of the job--but it's a big part.

"No matter what you're doing, there's someone out there copying it," says Troiani. The Southbury, Conn.-based artist has been creating historical paintings for 30 years, and as the volume and popularity of his work have increased, so has its theft.

One online dealer found a clever way to rob Troiani--by routing illegal sales through the artist's Web site (www.historicalartprints.com). Troiani had his attorney send a cease-and-desist letter to the vendor. "After that he folded pretty quickly," Troiani says.

Whether it's art, music, text, or the next great invention, it's no longer enough to create; you also have to protect your work. However, the methods--copyrighting, digital watermarks, and encryption--are relatively simple and inexpensive. And with both federal and international law on your side, there's no reason to delay.

Register It The next time you write a poem, compose music, or take a photo, immediately copyright it. How? First, include your name, the copyright symbol [C] and the date on each work you create. Alternatively, you can perform what's known as a "poor man's copyright" by placing your work (with the above information) in an envelope and mailing it to yourself. But never open the envelope. The sealed, postmarked envelope proves you created the material before that date.

However, to collect punitive damages from a copycat, you'll need to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office (202-707-3000; lcweb.loc. gov/copyright) within three months of its creation. Filing fees are $30 per item. Registering your work creates a public record of the copyright claim, making it difficult for anyone to argue lack of knowledge of the claim, say attorneys at Lawoffice.com (www.lawoffice.com).

Troiani registers his paintings even before the oil dries.

Use the Tools Copyrighting isn't the only way to secure your work online. According to Winn Schwartau, author of Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists, and Weapons of Mass Disruption ($24; Thunder's Mouth Press), the best way to protect a Web document is to save it as an Adobe PDF (portable document format) file. Adobe Acrobat ($249; 800-833-6687, www.adobe.com) lets you create read-only documents.

Mark It Digital watermarks and steganography (the art and science of hiding information) are options for protecting online images. Digital watermarks work similarly to those on paper: The marks are embedded into the document, but hidden. To prove theft of your copyrighted image, you activate the digital watermark.

Steganography also lets you embed a text file with your copyright information within the work. The embedded file can't be read without the software, Steganos II Security Suite ($60; 202-293-5151). A free demo version is available at www.demcom.com/english/steganos.> Make a Note With the advent of MP3 and other downloadable music sites, artists can sell their music to a wider audience while retaining autonomy. But this also makes them vulnerable to piracy.

"MP3 doesn't introduce anything new into the copyright issue," says Scot Hacker, author of MP3: The Definitive Guide ($30; O'Reilly). But it has changed the ease and volume of pirating.

So how do you protect music online? First, copyright your music and lyrics. Second, "Don't put anything on the Web that isn't up for grabs," says Hacker. "There are some systems out there trying to [provide protection], but I haven't seen any that reallywork." He cites Microsoft's Windows Media as an example: The product was hacked a day after the company rolled it out, touting its security mechanisms.

A Watchful Eye When it comes to security, Troiani finds it's best to take two approaches: deterrence and vigilance. Not only has he asked his Web designer to install protections on his online artwork, he also keeps an eye out for copycats. "You have to be vigilant" he says. Troiani views this as a way of "protecting future residual income" and warning would-be thieves against intellectual property theft.

Bookmarks

* The Justice Department's manual on intellectual property rights (www.cybercrime. gov/ip.html * World Intellectual Property Organization (www.wipo.org) * Lawoffice.com (www.lawoffice.com)