COPYRIGHT POLICY

Copyright and Your Coral Dreams Submission

Here at Coral Dreams we respect the rights of all artists and creative people worldwide, and we expect our members to also demonstrate that respect and assist us in creating a beneficial and positive atmosphere for all Coral Dreams visitors and members.

The bottom line is: Just about anything that is on this site, on the web, on TV, on CD’s, on DVD’s, in books and in magazines, is probably copyrighted by someone.

Copyright can be a confusing territory for many people. In many cases, the natural confusion over the sometimes varied circumstances surrounding copyright will lead people to rely on rumor or myth, more often than the actual law which naturally confuses the matter even more.

In this document, we will attempt to eliminate some of the confusion and counter many of the myths surrounding copyright, while aiming to clearly present the Coral Dreams policies and practices with regards to copyright. The availability of this document should not be construed as rendering legal or other professional advice, and this document is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal advice, you should seek the services of a qualified attorney.

How do I get Copyright?

Under most national laws and international copyright treaties you receive a copyright automatically in any original work that is made. Registration may be required to exercise some rights, like commencing a lawsuit. Copyright does NOT protect ideas. Copyright protects the expression of ideas or the ways in which an idea is materially placed or expressed in the work.

What is Copyright Infringement?

To simplify this question, copyright infringement occurs when you do certain things with a creative work which someone else produced, without first getting the proper permission.

Some examples of copyright infringement (this is only a partial listing) can include:

Placing someone else’s photograph or creative work online without proper permission.
Using a creative work, commercially without permission.
Adapting someone else’s creative work found in one medium to another medium, such as making a book into a movie or a photograph into a painting.
Modifying or editing a creative work without proper permission.

How Can I Avoid Infringing on Someone's Copyright?

The best way to avoid infringing on the rights of another creative person is to use your skill, talent and imagination to create your own completely original work. When we use the word ‘original,’ we don’t mean that you must come up with an idea which hasn’t been used before – recall that copyright does not protect ideas, themes or concepts. When used in reference to copyright “original” means that you created your work without referencing or deliberately copying anyone else’s work during the process, and that it is the authors’ own intellectual creation.

Ensure that all parts of your work, either literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, films, sound recordings, broadcasts and typographical arrangements, are your own original intellectual creations and have been fixed in a tangible form. If you have used materials which are owned by other people or companies, make certain that you have obtained proper permission or licensing for the use before you place your work online.

You can also obtain permission to use a copyrighted work by license. (You can read more here.)

What Sort of Things are Copyrighted?

The easy answer to this question is that just about any creative work that is less than 70 years old (and/or a different time period depending on the creative work), you might find should be considered copyrighted by default.

A work is not required to have a copyright statement printed on it, or near it, in order to be considered copyrighted, so do not assume that the work is unprotected simply because you cannot see a notice written anywhere.

Also, do not confuse the fact that a work is publicly available with the idea that it is in the public domain, or free for use. Being easy to find on the internet does not affect a work’s copyrighted status.

There are many exceptions to the 70 year guideline, but you are best advised to obtain legal advice from an expert if you intend to rely on the possibility that a modern work is not copyrighted.

Some Cautions

The creator (author) of the work will be the first owner of the copyright and has the exclusive right to copy the work, to issue copies of the work to the public, to rent or lend the work to the public, to perform, show or play the work to the public, to communicate the work to the public, and to make an adaptation of the work.
In most cases it does not matter how much of the material you have used, whether it is a single frame, a few moments of audio, a short clip of video or any other sampling, it is still considered to be protected by copyright and you still require the owner’s permission for use.
It doesn’t matter how you obtained the material, it’s still considered copyrighted and you still need permission.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve credited the proper owner, it’s still considered copyrighted and you still need permission.
It doesn’t matter if you are not selling it or making a profit, it’s still considered copyrighted and you still need permission.
It doesn’t matter if you can find other people using things without permission, it’s still considered copyrighted and you still need permission.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve edited it a little or made a few alterations, if it’s recognizable it’s still considered copyrighted and you still need permission.
Infringement can be committed unintentionally – it does not need to show it was deliberate, reckless or negligent.
Infringement can be committed directly or indirectly.
Read licenses carefully to understand the type of permission they provide. For example, there are many versions of the Creative Commons– each giving different permissions.

What Happens When You Infringe Coral Dreams’ Works copyright and/or related rights?

Coral Dreams, following the procedures in this Copyright Policy, can require the infringer to remove his or her copyrighted content. When through the proper notice the infringer becomes aware that he/she infringed the copyrights and/or related rights of Coral Dreams, he/she must immediately delete it and/or reverse and/or stop the infringing act. The infringer will not receive an additional advanced warning, and will not be given another opportunity to ‘fix it’.

The Coral Dreams (copyright owner) and/or its authorized agents and/or authorized representatives may also decide to sue you directly if you infringe its copyright in posting and/or copying and/or generally using its content and/or products against the law.

If a Coral Dreams user and/or account holder is found to repeatedly infringe Coral Dreams’ content and/or products, his/her account will immediately be suspended and serious offenders will have their account banned and deactivated. We consider three strikes as an indication of being a repeat infringer subject to ban. If you are found deliberately misrepresenting the copyrighted work of Coral Dreams as your own, your account will be immediately banned and deactivated.

The Coral Dreams (copyright owner) and/or its authorized agents and/or authorized representatives may also decide to sue the Coral Dreams USER and/or account holder directly if he/she infringes its copyright in posting and/or copying and/or generally using its content and/or products against the law.

What about "Fair Dealing"

“Fair Dealing” is the notion that some public and private uses of copyrighted works for certain specific reasons should not require the permission of a copyright owner and acts as a defense to a copyright infringement. These circumstances are very limited, complex to analyze under the law, and require the help of expert advice from a lawyer. We recommend you talk to your own lawyer if you want to know more about fair dealing. If it turns out that it isn’t fair dealing, you may be liable for a copyright infringement and for monetary damages.

To learn more about fair use you can go here, here, here, and here.

Notification of Copyright Infringement

This section contains the formal requirements of the Copyright Act with respect to Coral Dreams’ rights as the copyright owner whose content and/or products appears on a different website and/or www and/or anywhere else besides Coral Dreams’ Website (www.coraldreamsart.com) without its authorization and instruction.

To file a copyright infringement notification (also commonly known as a “DMCA takedown notice”), the Coral Dreams (copyright owner) and/or its authorized agents and/or its authorized representatives acting on Coral Dreams’ behalf will need to collect the following information:

A physical or electronic signature of the Coral Dreams (copyright owner) or of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material. In this regard please provide URLs when you identify the location of the material.
A statement that the Coral Dreams has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by them, its agent, or the law.
A statement that the Coral Dreams has a good belief that the infringing party has used the work as a whole or any substantial part of it.

To file a DMCA takedown notice, you may use the form here. This form requires a Coral Dreams account, which is available at no charge by signing up.

Please consult the Provision of Products and Coral Dreams’ Etiquette Policy in which we explain that you may be removed from the site if you are a repeat infringer or if you violate Coral Dreams’ policies.