enlightened on the news of the day. In short, access to information was no longer the privilege of the wealthy, educated, and well-connected.
More then 500 years later, the Internet is having a similar revolutionary effect on the way information is communicated among individuals. Instead of simply being passive readers of data, Internauts now have the chance to actively share their own information—ranging from theories on why the dinosaurs became extinct to pictures of family pets—with the entire world. The overwhelming success of this two-way, information street is illustrated by the popularity of the World Wide Web, which now contains more than 20 million pages of information and is growing at a rate of a few thousand pages each day.
Ironically, however, it is precisely the Internet’s ability to absorb, digest, and disseminate vast amounts of information that has forced users to address the issue of online property rights. Although scholars, government officials, businesses and others have demonstrated the benefits
•	such as global data sharing, fingertip access to international resources, and a universal audience—of the Internet, less honest users have taken advantage of the free access on the Internet to plagiarize texts and ideas, violate copyright laws, and pirate software. Fortunately, it’s possible to diminish the negative effects of these criminal activities by combining the strong arm of copyright legislation with a little foresight and diligent awareness. We’ve outlined the essential principles of your rights as a publisher of information on the Internet and how you can protect yourself against those who would steal your online property.
Copyright on the ‘Net
The copyright laws that apply in the virtual world of the Internet are
fundamentally no different than those that apply to any copyrightable work
•	such as a training manual, a poem, a musical score, a computer program, or a home video—in the physical world. Since the U.S. Copyright Act was revised in 1988 to meet the conditions of the Berne Convention, the primary international copyright treaty, every copyrightable work completed after March 1989 gains its copyright protection immediately upon creation.
Furthermore, when a copyrightable work is completed, either on- or offline, it instantly becomes the property of its owner. The owner, who may be either a work’s author or creator or the business of individual who commissioned the work, is granted certain legal rights over the work. The most important rights are the exclusive rights to copy, modify, sell and distribute the copyright protected work. These rights are seldom violated in the physical world. Most people respect the property of others and have little reason to claim ownership of works they did not create.
Many online users mistakenly—albeit understandably—believe a different set of copyright laws apply online, however. These users fail to comprehend the purpose of the copyright legislation, and they don’t realize the potential consequences of failing to respect these laws. Nevertheless, ignorance is not a legal excuse, and it’s important for all Internet users to be aware of their rights as information users and providers on the Internet.
Users first must understand the reasons for promoting copyright legislation. “The ultimate purpose of copyright legislation is to foster creation and dissemination of intellectual and artistic works,” says G. Peter Albert Jr. of the Harness, Dickey & Pierce law firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. “An important secondary purpose is to give authors the reward due them for their contribution to society,” he adds.
Creating such an environment on the Internet invites information distributors to share their information with the world. This ensures the continued dissemination of information online and moves the Internet a little closer toward becoming the world’s first—and best—source for information. Conversely, failing to create such an environment could have a devastating effect on the growth of the Internet, by stifling information distribution and discouraging the promulgation of original ideas.
Users also should realize that all original information posted to the Internet after March 1989 is the legal property of the person or business that owns the information. This covers virtually every text file, graphics file, and software application found online. Even if a file does not reveal that it’s copyright protected, you still can be prosecuted for infringing on that copyright.
Therefore, for your own legal protection and out of respect for the work’s author, it’s prudent to assume that all information found on the Internet is protected by copyright laws. If you intend to use a piece of information for wide distribution, plan to charge a fee for information you acquired from the Internet, or mean to use information found on the ‘Net for some other personal reason, you should contact the owner of the material, the Copyright Office, or a lawyer who specializes in copyright law for legal advice.
Just as you should be aware of your responsibilities as a user of information, you also should know how to protect your rights as a publisher. The most effective means of copyright protection is to register all original works with the U.S. Copyright Office. Doing so guarantees that anyone who is caught violating the copyright protection of any work will be punished to the full extent of the law.
Although it may seem difficult to enforce copyright protection on the Internet, in actuality it can be done quite effectively, says Lance Rose of the Lewis & Roca law firm in Phoenix and author of the book “NetLaw.”
“Though you can’t keep any one individual from copying something illegitimately,” Rose says, “you can make it so hard for them that you force them into some type of underground economy.”
Fortunately, registering a work with the Copyright Office is as easy as licking a stamp or two and simply involves sending a copy of the work, an application for registration (obtained from the Copyright Office), and a $20 registration fee to the U.S. Copyright Office. Within six months, you will receive notice that your work has been registered. Acquiring copyright protection for the information you post to the Internet not only protects your intellectual property but also promotes the Internet as a credible distributor of information.

Below are four brief descriptions of how copyright laws protect some of the information distributed online.
E-Mail
Every line of text contained in an electronic mail message receives copyright protection and usually is considered the property of the sender unless the message occurred within a business system, in which case the business may retain some ownership rights on in-house correspondence, says Lance Rose of the Lewis & Roca law firm in Phoenix and author of the book, “NetLaw.”
In the case of E-mail, a distinction also must be made between privacy rights and the ownership rights granted by copyright laws. Some online systems reserve the right to disclose the contents of personal E-mail, usually for legal or commercial purposes. However, the disclosed information cannot be published or distributed outside the system without the permission of the sender. Check your service’s terms of service for details on its policy.
Text Files
Online text files, including original works of fiction, poetry, research papers, biographies financial reports, correspondence, essays, journal entries, and notes, receive all of the same copyright protection that their hard-copy cousins enjoy. Some users, however, mistakenly believe that online texts are public domain because they are free and have an expansive circulation. Other users fail to respect the copyright protection of online texts because their authors often are unpublished in hard-copy format. Remember: Justice is blind, and a user who violates the copyright protection of an obscure work will be prosecuted just as harshly as a user who violates the copyright protection of an important work.
Graphics files
Like text files, online graphics files, including digital images, animation, clip art, and charts, receive complete copyright protection. All images found online are the property of the artist or photographer who created those images. Therefore, unless they are clearly marked otherwise, online graphics and images cannot be copied for use at another Internet site or in a newsletter or magazine without the artist’s permission. Similarly, online images should not be used to create new images or collages without the artist’s permission.
Software
Software applications found online are either known as shareware, which require payment for usage, or freeware, which do not require payment. These applications, much to the surprise of users everywhere, were purposely placed online for free distribution. Unlike pirated software, which is software that is not supposed to be distributed freely online, shareware and freeware are marketing ploys to attract users to a product. In the case of shareware, the users get to sample the product before buying it. If the users aren’t satisfied, they don’t register or pay for the product; if they like the product, however, they’re obligated to register and pay for it. Freeware, on the other hand, is designed to entice users to try a full or limited version of a product for free in the hopes that they’ll enjoy it enough to purchase another program or remaining parts of a limited version from the manufacturer.
Although these programs are available to anyone with an Internet connection, they remain protected by copyright laws. Stealing the programming code to create a new program, repeatedly using the shareware without registering it, or charging other users for freeware are just three examples of shareware and freeware copyright infringement.

Additional comments from Mark:
Although this article was written for U.S. readers, the basic principles apply in all countries which are members of the Berne Convention. If you have questions about how the laws apply in other nations, or if you are uncertain whether a particular nation is a member of the Berne Convention, contact that Copyright Office of that nation.
Also, although not specifically mentioned in the article, copyright protection may belong to a person or company other than the author if a work-for-hire agreement exists. For more information on how work-for-hire agreements affect copyright protection, contact an attorney, or visit the Legal Forum.
CE Rose of the Lewis & Roca law firm in Phoenix and author of the book,