When Corporate America cuts budgets, staff start using what they have. A little too much creativity can result in your work being used in ways that you didn’t anticipate. Some legal folks call that copyright violation; some HR pros argue fair usage.
Problem: the answer isn’t always clear cut. Doug Isenberg, founder of The GigaLaw firm provides these great benchmarks:
- Amount that is used. The more work that is yours, the less likely the use is fair. That means copying your entire handout is a no-no.
- Prupose of the use. Commercial uses face more scrutiny. This is the greyest area. If you presented a workshop, using that information internally could be argued as fair use. Selling it to someone else is not.
- Nature of the work. The more factual the work, the more others can use it. In other words, facts are in the public domain. Your interpretation and insights are not.
Tags: branding, copyright violation, Doug Isenberg, insights, interpretation, Marketing, public domain, Vickie Sullivan