What do you know about copyright and how it vests? The world of copyright law is a somewhat murky one. Although an attempt was made to standardize international copyright laws through the many international conventions, there still remain areas of dispute created by geographical locations.

However tedious the study of Copyright Law might be in itself, especially for the non-legal professional, the first point of call would be to understand how and when rights are vested in a work.

This article by Efere Ozakor attempts to shed some light in respect of that. Here is an excerpt:

No copyright vests in ideas, but only in the expression of the ideas. Therefore, your story idea about a bull which is challenged to protect the other animals in the barnyard against evil coyotes is not protected per se, but your expression of the idea into book form or a screenplay (also the written synopsis and treatment) and eventually a feature film, will be protected.

Copyright comes into existence automatically, that is upon the moment of creation, but only once a work has been reduced into a material form, like a treatment or screenplay. This is the first requirement for copyright to vest.

Find the rest of the article here.

What Do You Know About Copyright? originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on March 22, 2010. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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I’ve written here before about the efficacy of using open source in place of pirated copies of Microsoft Office (as Lawyers and citizens of the world, we should know better!). This is a good opprotunity for you to dispose of that copy you have which did not ‘pass the validation test’. If it is online, and it is free, please try and hook up. Pirated copies are not just outdated, they could earn you a sabbatical in prison.

It is going online today. Check www.microsoft.com for more information.

Microsoft Office to go online — for free – Big Tech originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on July 13, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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By Raymond Vencer

Back in college or even high school, we often see others copy assignments from their reliable ’sources’ and get away with it like nothing happened. When one is asked to search for the definition of a certain word, a simple Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V from the net will do the job right away. It wasn’t long when the term “copy-pasting” was coined by many. In its very essence, “copy-pasting” is merely copying something verbatim without any alterations or editing whatsoever in the content. Here are few reasons why one should avoid this kind of behavior:

Legalities. Ever heard of intellectual property rights, copyright infringements and piracy? If you copy and paste a particular section of a document without the author’s approval and referral, then that may be considered as stealing. It’s taking away something that rightfully belongs to others. If one won’t be too careful, he might get lawsuits and a whole lot more.

Lazy Head. Imagine a rusty sword which hasn’t been taken cared of for a long period of time. Well, the effortless copying and pasting procedure makes the brain dull. The nerve cells slow down. The mind becomes static. Incapable of thinking. Paralyzed by lazy fairy. Locked in total uselessness.

“Copy-pasting” makes the job easier but with the expense of one’s preservation of talent and skills. Not to mention the risks of breaking certain copyright laws and existing regulations. The best way to do is weighing out all options and to consider all the risks in order to arrive at a sound decision.

Raymond C. Vencer is a Writer for AgentsofValue.com. He graduated with the degree Bachelor of Science in Information Technology at West Visayas State University. He was one of the staff of their college publication throughout his college years. He has interests in writing, reading books, listening to music and web surfing. He has some fascination on the web and its features.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raymond_Vencer
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Art-Of-Copy-Pasting&id=1203425

The Art Of “Copy-Pasting” originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on June 28, 2008. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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