| For decades, creators
of intellectual property had the copyright laws behind
them in protecting their efforts. Every reader of books
or publications is familiar with the easily recognized
copyright symbol (©), which shows that the author
doesn’t wish the material copied, reprinted, or
quoted extensively without prior permission. In an age
of mechanical printing, this was often sufficient. It
took a fair amount of effort to transpose existing materials,
and the possibility of doing so without noticing the
copyright symbol was considered unlikely. In fact, the
right of an author to copyright protection has become
so accepted that recent changes in the law make this
protection available even without the previously required
visible attachment of a copyright symbol to the materials
and filing of the materials with a governmental organization.
Enter the computer age. With so much material now available
in electronic format, the ability to “cut and
paste,” even from one web site to another, virtually
has eliminated the time and mechanical barriers to copying
such materials. And what’s easy to do often gets
done.
Have you created procedures to be certain that you
and your staff don’t let this ease of use lead
to copyright violations, including unauthorized infringement
on the slogans or trademarks of others? And if such
inadvertent infringement occurs, will your current insurance
provide protection? As the capabilities of the digital
age evolve, we’ll be happy to help you ensure
that your copyright liability protection evolves as
well.
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