Hacker News Reader

Comment by braum | Hacker News Reader

Make sure you file copyright for each video before making it available on your own website. Having a copyright in place before any theft allows you to go after (by threat or course) statutory damages for each theft of your work. I learned this a few years ago from our own IP lawyer when someone was reusing some of our material. We now file the $35(or whatever it is) fee before posting the material online.

View on HN

File for copyright? how do you mean: Copyright is implicit, unlike patents, upon creation of a work.

>Registration is still required in the US for some benefits, such as awards of statutory damages. [1]

>You must register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office before you are legally permitted to bring a lawsuit to enforce it. [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_registration#Require... [2] http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/copyright-registratio...

Can you just register your copyright after the infringement?

Yes but statutory damages will not be available and according to our lawyer. The statutory damages is what gets people to comply because it is the one that can multiply exponentially as it applies to EACH violation (download, sale, ect...). If you use the implicit copyright you can only go after actual damages which will be harder to prove. I'm not suggesting you file a copyright for everything, just stuff you want to absolutely protect. In the context of this discussion it is education videos.

You have one month after discovering the infringement to register if you want to get statutory damages.[1] Register a copyright online here: http://copyright.gov/eco/ Yes, they take video uploads. Costs $35 per item.

[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412

> can multiply exponentially as it applies to EACH violation

You meant "linearly", right?

probably

You can file a registration for copyright, which gives you certain presumptions and advantages in court (e.g. it serves as a presumption of ownership, which would be important in these kinds of cases). It also might serve as "notice" for potential infringers so that you can get higher damages.

all work you create is copyrighted. you own the content you produce

this is why, I believe, it's actually against copyright law to use an open source project that doesn't include a license.

> use an open source project that doesn't include a license.

It's not open source if it doesn't include a license stating that it is.

Open source just means you can read the source. That's why the acronym FLOSS had to be invented.

You are wrong. Read the Open Source Definition:

https://opensource.org/osd

That is _one_ definition and comes from an organization with an interest in loading the term.

The OSI surely has some say in what they meant when they created the term "open source". The term didn't exist before 1998 when the people involved† with the organization you're referring to coined it. Anything else is just perverting a well-defined term.

I'm not a huge OSI fan, so when I say this, it's not coming from a place of ideology. It's just historical fact.

† The organization didn't exist yet, but it was founded later that month.

(Almost) all work is copyrighted from the moment of creation, but registration still has advantages if you want to litigate.

I thought writing a little (c) was all that was required to protect content with a copyright.

You don't even need to put a (c) or mark it with "copyright 2015". You can do that to express that you are the copyright holder but you don't need to do it. Your work, assuming it falls within copyrights, is automatically given a copyright.

OP was saying that there is a provision in the law that allows you to claim 3x the allowable damages if you take the time to register with the copyright office and pay the filing fee.

Note too that this is for USA law. USA was one of the last countries to ratify the Berne Convention, nearly 100 years after it was formed. It is Berne that brought in automatic copyright without registration.I still occasionally come across people in the UK who think they must register for copyright because of registration still being a thing in USA.

Udemy being active in many jurisdictions I imagine parallel cases or forum shopping might be worthwhile. Particularly an international firm might be able to direct the case to somewhere that values personal rights above those of corporations which might enable you to hit Udemy hard enough that they'll care to do something to prevent it happening in the future.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com