An Open Letter To The New York Times
An Open Letter To The New York Times
Dear New York Times Legal Department:
I write several commercial blogs for clients with diverse business interests. I write and manage blogs on real estate, Internet marketing, security, art and literature, software and technology, advertising media and online gambling. Recently, I received an e-mail from a commercial writer who creates content on one of your subsidiary websites. It was a very threatening letter.
In read in part, and this is a paraphrase, that my use of her material on one of my blogs constituted plagiarism and that I should remove it or be subject to her attorneys’ – you – hungry ambitions. I was aghast that a fellow author didn’t understand the fair use clause of U.S. copyright law.
According to a report for Congress on fair use on the Internet, written by Christopher Alan Jennings of the American Law Division, courts weigh four factors with regard to fair use, whether online or off line:
1. Purpose and character of work in question
2. Nature of copyrighted work
3. “Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole”
4. Effect of use of the work “upon the potential market”
Now, I’m no legal scholar, but it seems to me that copying a paragraph or two and commenting on it on a blog falls into these guidelines as fair use. While there is no black and white dividing line with regard to fair use, I believe the first point (purpose and character) has a lot to do with medium. In other words, the media used in communicating a copyrighted work is essentially and inherently tied to purpose and character.
This is an important distinction because, while blogs are fairly new on the historical landscape of copyrighted material, it is very common and a fairly accepted practice – not to mention encouraged – for bloggers to copy and paste a few sentences or paragraphs from a website and add their own comments to it. Of course, it is generally recognizable that, when doing so, bloggers will link back to the quoted source as an act of attribution. This is considered fair use by the majority of bloggers who engage in this practice. It is also what I did when I “plagiarized” your subordinate author’s copyrighted material.
In his report, Jennings goes on to elaborate on each of the points above, noting that purpose and character has to do with two factors – primarily commercial use and transformative use. Jennings quotes the Supreme Court with regard to the first factor: “The crux of the profit/nonprofit distinction is not whether the sole motive of the use is monetary gain, but whether the user stands to profit from the exploitation of the copyrighted material without paying the customary price.” Again, I’m no legal scholar, but it seems to me that a vital question to ask in determining this crucial distinction is whether or not the commercial use of the copyrighted material could stand on its own without the material in question. Since I removed the “borrowed” material from my posts immediately upon receiving this e-mail, I think any judge would see that there is no question that my blog posts could survive without your material.
This brings me to Jennings’ next point. He says in his report that “transformative use” means generally that the new use of the copyrighted material “adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning or message.” Well, since I added my own comments to the “borrowed” material in order to highlight certain points that I agreed with, simply using the material as a testimonial to prove my larger point, I believe that would qualify as a valid transformative use of copyrighted material. Again, since I did link back to the original source, which constitutes attribution, I do not understand why a fellow author would consider that plagiarism.
In light of your own issues regarding plagiarism – i.e. Jayson Blair, which led to the resignation of Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd – I can understand why this might be a sensitive issue for you. Perhaps your newspaper would like to change its public image or take any attention off of yourselves due to these very serious issues that have resulted in a negative image of your company. But that’s no reason to toss around false accusations. I’d encourage – indeed, I implore you – to please take the time to educate your employees on what constitutes plagiarism and fair use for bloggers and other Internet authors. I’d hate to see your company involved in other embarrassing and unnecessary legal wrangles.
Avoid These Web Site Design And Writing Gaffles
Is your website doomed before it even gets off the ground?
A badly-designed website can turn off potential customers
before they even think about buying your product. Here are
some website design mistakes that you should avoid.
1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high tech clutter.
As a rule, avoid using fancy animation or script code unless
it is absolutely necessary.. Those things only serve to
distract from your sales message.
2. A website that loads slowly is just about the most annoying
thing on the Internet. Don't use large graphics or anything
else that dramatically increases your site's load time.
3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totally understand
your web site message. Use descriptive words and examples to
get your point across.
4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only once. You
should repeat it at least 3 times because some people may miss
it.
5. Don't push all your words together on your web site. People
like to skim; use plenty of headings and sub headings.
6. Stay focused. Don't use site content your target audience
isn't interested in. If people are coming to your site to find
info about fishing, then don't include soccer content.
7. Keep a unified theme. Don't use 50 different content formats
all over your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text
colors, etc.
8. Stick to the basics. Don't use words your web site visitors
might not understand. People are not going to stop and look in
a dictionary, they will just go to another site.
9. Don't let your selling words and phrases go unnoticed.
Highlight important words and phrases with color, bolding,
italics, underlining, etc.
10. Don't forget to use words that create emotion. All people
have emotions, people will have more interest when they are
emotionally attached.
11. Don't use unnecessary words or phrases on your site. You
only have so much time to get your visitor's attention and
interest; so make ever word count.
12. Stay organized by avoiding the "cluttered" look. I see
plenty of websites that have banners and graphics strewn all
over the place with no rhyme or reason. These sites look awful
and , needless to say, I click away from them as quickly as
possible.
Article written by Jagat Joshi.
Ronald Gibson
graphic design seattle - seattle graphic design
email: andy_jones1@yahoo.com
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