Month: May 2019

This is the last in the Copyright Basics portion of Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls series, but not the end of the series. This article addresses some important issues for writers, and bloggers in particular. As a reminder, every article in this series is to be used as a general educational resource only, NOT as legal advice. If you reside in Colorado or Florida and are interested in legal advice, feel free to contact me at kvdhfischer@gmail.com. My firm, Karen VDH Fischer LLC, represents clients in both states.

Creative Commons license

Provides a standard way for authors to declare their works as “some rights reserved” (instead of “all rights”). When you are quoting from a source that has a Creative Commons license or public domain dedication, you may have extra rights to use the content. For example, the attribution license allow you to copy, distribute, and display a work as long as you name the original author. Share-alike lets you make derivative works as long as you use the same license for the re-mix. If a work is in the public domain, it’s no longer under copyright protection so you may use it any way you want.

Of Particular Note to Bloggers

Comments: Comments entered on a blog for public display is most likely giving an implied license at least for that display and the incidental copying that goes with it. To assure clarity, add a creative Commons license to your blog’s comment post page and a statement that says by posting comments, writers agree to license them under it.

“Deep Link”: Most are happy when other websites link to them. One of the features that have helped blogs take off are the “permalink” features to which others can link directly. Some website owners complain that deep links “steal” traffic to the homepage or disrupt the intended flow of the website. So far, courts have found that deep links to web pages are neither trespass nor copyright infringement.

Images: Subject to same copyright and fair use laws. Check for Creative Commons licensed images. The safest images are the ones you take yourself — you own them.

If you don’t have one you need, you can buy them or search for sites that offer Creative Commons Zero (CCO).

This means that you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial products without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer and/or designer.

To read the definitions of all the different Creative Commons Licenses, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

Songs: You may quote the title to a song, but none of the words to a song.

Book Covers: You can post a picture of a book cover you are recommending or reviewing — it’s fair use.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC Sec. 512: Provides service providers who “respond expeditiously” to notices claiming they are hosting or linking to infringing material a “safe harbor” immunity from copyright liability. Sips are not liable if they do not remove content, but the DMCA gives them a strong incentive to take the content down. In turn, that gives anyone who wants your material removed from the internet a strong incentive to make claims of copyright infringement.

If your ISP sends you a DMCA takedown notice and you believe the material you posted does not infringe copyright, you have the option to counter-notify. An ISP is able to put the material back up after a counter-notification and still keep its immunity from liability. You can even use the DMCa’s sec 512 (f) to sue back if you are harmed by an erroneous take-down demand.

Hope this helped. Next month we address disclosures.

(c) 2018,2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

Kathryn Ross is my guest today on Thyme for Writers with Angelica Encounters with God: Writing Fragrance in the Holy Spirit. This article is a part of the series — The Write Spice: Writing Tips for Flavorful Words.

Recently returned from the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference (GPCWC), my thoughts in the aftermath swirl while thumbing through pages of notes and organizing photos. I review new friendships forged, linking with each on social media. Reconnecting with other kindred writing peers I only get to see once a year also requires follow-up. My to-do list lengthens with the addition of information and inspiration for accomplishing my goals—and setting new objectives to advance my writing and publishing aspirations.

Conferences overwhelm a writer’s brain cells and sap valuable energy. Spending fourteen packed hours for three days or more moving from learning labs to continuing sessions to workshops to panels to keynote addresses, with worship, meals, and one-on-one appointments squeezed in between, I need a few days recovery to reorder my writing life with all I’ve absorbed.

Retreat to advance. And the best place I know for retreating is the presence of God.

Sitting down in my Secret Place corner, I breathe in deep and relax into God’s Word to inform the many words poured into me at the conference. I ought not take in anything I learned unless it be infused with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. I’m thankful for the many professionals and mentors who gave of themselves, pouring into all the writers gathered this past weekend, but I have learned that such a banquet must be sweetened by the Lord’s direction, or all my efforts to follow through will be bitter.

The central theme of the GPCWC stems from director Marlene Bagnull’s original vision for it—to equip and encourage Christian writers and communicators to Write His Answer. Habakkuk 2:2, the inspiration for the conference for over thirty years, acts as a compass to keep writers focused on the main thing:

Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. (NLT)

I’ve attended this conference for many years and always come away sensing a greater need to make my words healing words—correct words—in whatever genre I choose to work. Writing has long been considered a solo profession—an author and keyboard alone. Extract brilliance from the mind. Distill it down into words that persuade, entertain, correct—and heal.
This brings me to a fascinating ancient herb, linked to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and prized for its sweet, healing constituents that once protected against the plague. Large green, glossy leaves extending from hollow stalks, flower in green and yellow clusters on or near May 8, the historic feast day of Michael the archangel.

Originally sourced by medieval herbalists and Renaissance doctors, Angelica continues to enjoy a hallowed reputation in healing aromatherapy. Referred to as “root of the Holy Ghost,” its precious essential oils infuse perfumes and colognes with a sweet fragrance to lift the heart. Its seed flavors Chartreuse liqueur. Pastry chefs candy its stalk and leaves for elegant cake decoration.

All these uses elevate Angelica to a pampering herb useful to refresh and renew mind, body, and spirit. Just the thing when one needs a retreat.
Retreat to advance: in the same way a writers conference bathes one in the sweetness of inspiration, instruction, and kindred spirits; in the same way seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the aftermath of a conference brings focus and correction to one’s writing ministry.

When our writing is rooted in the Holy Ghost, we grow our words from the leading of Christ. In so doing, the scent of the goodness of God permeates our message like the sweetness of perfume fills a room.

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
2 Corinthians 2:14 NLT

Whether you’ve had the opportunity to retreat for a few days at a writers conference or not, breathe in the revitalizing effects of Angelica through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Let Him inform your words to heal like a sweet perfume. To correct that which plagues you in meeting your goals. Though I have grown through the years of conferences, and the ministry of the mentors and training found there, apart from that growth being rooted in the Holy Ghost—Angelica—I cannot hope to pen words that heal and ultimately, spread the knowledge of Christ.

Make time for an Angelica encounter with God to sweeten the scent of your words every day.

(C) 2018 Kathryn Ross

Writer-speaker, Kathryn Ross, ignites a love of literature and learning through Pageant Wagon Productions and Publishing. She mentors writers as a book shepherd and publishes homeschool enrichment and Christian living books for home, church, and school. Her passion is to equip women and families in developing a Family Literacy Lifestyle, producing readers and thinkers who can engage the world from a biblical worldview. She blogs and podcasts at TheWritersReverie.com and PageantWagonPublishing.com. Connect with Miss Kathy on Facebook.