Copyright issues

Assessment of my website

My web page was a condensation of commands used in the PageTutor exercise (Barta, n.d.). As such it is in contravention of the Copyright Act. The United States information source (Copyright Website LLC, 2009) gives the four factors necessary to determined the degree of copying allowed.

Factor 1 - Purpose and Character of Use: I fit non-profit. (35%)

Factor 2 - Nature of Copyrighted Work: Is it worthy of copyright protection by it's nature? It is a widely used aid so the answer is "yes'. (10%)

Factor 3 - Relative amount: This is where it gets difficult. It appears the relative size does not matter, the quality of the quotation used is also of consideration (see below). (10%)

Factor 4 - Effect upon Potential Market: Will it harm the potential market of the original? Since Barta also publishes a book and similar guide I would say I fail this test. (35%)

I look bad enough under these guidelines. However, they then go on to say that "When a use is found to be transformative" the use part of the equation is not important and the transformation overrides all.

I have NOT published my page on the Internet.

Using the Curtin Logo on assignments

• The Australian Copyright Council states that the website as a whole is not protected but the logos, as a component part, may be


• IPAustralia defines Intellectual property as "the property of your mind or intellect". It distinguishes seven catagories: patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, circuit layout rights, plant breeded rights and confidentuality/trade secrets.
  
  
  
  • copyright: for "original material in literary, artistic, dramatic or musical works, films, broadcasts, multimedia and computer programs"
  
  
  • trademarks:for "letters, words, phrases, sounds, smells, shapes, logos, pictures, aspects of packaging or a combination of these, to distinguish the goods and services of one trader from those of another"
  
  
  • As the logo fits the trademark category it does not have the automatic protection in Australia that the copyright does. It must be registered. I checked the data base listed and the Curtin logo is a registered trademark.
  
  
  • It states that "An appropriate trade mark should be an integral part of the marketing strategy for your goods and services.The public will identify a certain quality and image with goods and services bearing your trade mark."
• While an exercise commissioned as part of a Curtin course (and flagged as such) seems to fit the profile it would appear that the University has the right to decide if your efforts, published under it's banner, would damage it's "quality and image".

Barta, J, (n.d.). So, you want to make a Web Page! Retrieved from http://www.PageTutor.com/ on April 3, 2009.
Copyright Website LLC (2009)>. Copyright Website. Retrieved from http://www.benedict.com/Info/FairUse/FairUse.aspx on April 14, 2009.
IPAustralia (2008). What is Intellectual Property? Retrieved from http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/index.shtml on April 18, 2009.