Podcasters Emporium

Hey Hern and thanks for the comments! Here in Australia I too have heard of the mail it to yourself trick. As you same not sure how that would stand up in court. I think too there night be a difference internationally. That is one of the big issues – protecting your work on an international stage. This trick was great before the Internet changed everything :)

As you say we need to run it by Gordon! He will be back I am sure we had a great chat and left many unanswered questions.

Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

Hi guys,

Let me chime in on the so-called “poor-man’s copyright” tactic of mailing a copy of the work to oneself.

Sadly, it’s really not worth much. The trouble is, that in most countries, the registration system is the only “official” way to prove that a work existed at a certain point in time.

The postal services in most countries won’t vouch for the fact that an envelope contained anything at the time it was mailed. And, since it’s possible to mail an un-sealed envelope, the fact that you’ve got a postmarked envelope is essentially meaningless.

Registered mail may be a bit more “official”, but given the cost, copyright registration is the better solution. In the U.S., and in international cases, registration of the copyright is required before the lawsuit can begin.

Also, in the U.S., if the work is registered within 90 days after its first publication, the plaintiff will be entitled to ‘statutory damages’,( rather than having to PROVE how he/she’s been damaged by the infringement). Early registration also entitles the plaintiff to recover attorneys’ fees.

Thanks for the comment, Gordon!

The thing about copyright registration is that it’s weighted mostly in the “infringer’s” benefit, at least in cases where it’s “big business” versus “Joe Public.” Forcing people to register their copyright with a government office is usually cost-restrictive to most people, whereas big businesses see it as just another tiny part of their production costs.

To put it in perspective, I took 8000 photos on one of my trips to the UK with an thought of perhaps selling some of my photos as stock photography. If I offered only 1% of those photos as stock and had to register copyright on each, it would cost me over $3000, plus all of the paperwork involved. So obviously most people are not going to go to the trouble of registering copyrights on all of their work unless it is their sole means of support and it is likely to be copied.

The Copyright Office even goes as far to say that they are not responsible for items that are lost in the shuffle. So even if you’ve submitted your work for registration, it could get lost. That isn’t to say that things DO get lost, but they can.

We’ve also seen instances of Big Business taking someone’s work from websites like Flickr and deviantART and using that work in their commercial products and then claiming, “We thought it was public domain,” or “We hired a Designer to create the product so we’re not at fault.” Knowing that MOST people are not going to register their copyright for everything they put on the Internet. (In fact, I think it was an Australian phone company that took an image from Flickr and was using it as a bus shelter advert.) So it’s cheap for them to close their eyes and use downloaded content because they know that it will only be a small percentage of people who come back at them for it.

All I have to say to people who post images on the Internet is to be sure to use visible watermarks on them, because the next person who uses it might be a big business. And for big businesses that hire a Designer: You are still responsible for the content used.

Well this episode certainly answered a lot of questions for me regarding music being used in podcasts. I’m almost to the point of just making my own music so that I don’t have to worry about it at all. I’m going to have to search through some of those podsafe music sites and see if they have anything I like.

Also, thanks for the tip about the bigcontact’s feed player for the blog site. I got it setup and it’s working great.

Glad to see you back with a new episode. I’m looking forward to the new episodes. So much to learn! Oh and thanks for the mention on the last episode.

man-o-man. i really gotta get back over here…Dave, James, great show once again. really really informative and I am looking forward to the return of the “Podcaster’s Lawyer” :)

Hi,

This is John living in what would be your past, since I’m only up to episode 18. Have to say that was another stunning show, thank you so very much for your efforts.
I can’t wait to catch up with all the latest shows. When I finally re-launch my podcast, I know it will be better after I have absorbed all the good info you guys have shared.