7th Day - Seven Swans A-swimming by Leo Reynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/71816147 CC-BY-NC-SA
…my true love gave to me 7 steps to protect material that I have created.
We focus a lot on what your obligations are when you use copyright material but if you are creating material that is protected by copyright and you have rights.
From time to time we get asked by staff and students writing articles and publications how they can assert their rights and protect their work from unauthorised use. Here are 7 steps that you can take to help prevent your work from being infringed.
- Include a copyright statement and citation information on your work. – By doing so you alert people to the fact that your work is subject to copyright and they cannot just freely use it however they want. By including a title and yourself as author, people can correctly acknowledge your work when they use it.
- Include instructions on how to seek permission and contact information – People are often aware that they need permission but they cannot locate contact information to get it.
- Use metadata – If the work is in digital format then include the copyright statement, citation, permission and contact information in the metadata. This ensures that it always remains with the work and reduces the chances of your work becoming an orphaned work.
- Include a watermark – People will not want to use material that includes a watermark and so will need to contact you to get a clean copy of the work.
- Use low resolution images – People will need to contact you to get a high resolution version.
- Choose a format that is more difficult to reproduce – If you are concerned about people copying and using or modifying your work without your permission, choose a format that is harder to copy and/or change.
- Apply a Technological Protection Measure (TPM) -. TPMS are locks that can prevent a person from accessing or copying material without permission.
For more information see Protecting Your Work