LEGALLY SPEAKING - Paul Sugden

On What in the Blog is a BLOG?

The ultimate trendy way to converse and make your presence known in the Internet age is to have a "blog". Yes nowadays it's, "Have you seen my blog?" rather than have you seen my latest work, or my website? (Or my etchings?). So what is a blog and what legal issues arise for the textile artist in using one?

The best definition is that a Blog is a shortened form of the word "web log" which is a web-based shared online journal where people can post diary entries, videos, links etc about their personal experiences, hobbies or work. A detailed history and meaning of 'blog' can be found at a free site: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog It also has trendy terms you can drop into your next social conversation like: "Whilst I was talking to Janet on the mobile I sent an "audioblog" to a "Dark Blog" which had a "Blogroll". (Just for fun see the meaning of these terms under the Common Terms at the aforementioned website).

If you as a textile creative decide to venture into this new world of Blogs, just what are your liabilities and legal responsibilities? - Given this is essentially a web based log we are talking about, that is available to the general community, the issues of copyright, defamation and related laws do arise.

To recap on the previous articles about copyright and the internet: work produced on your weblog will be protected under the Copyright Act since material you place there (essays, diary notes, videos etc) are all copyright material. This will mean that the creator of the material is generally considered the owner of the copyright. The creator is the author or person who produced the copyright work. So if you put your works up there in a digital form then you are the creator and you own the copyright.

However, what if you put up the material of another textile creative to demonstrate a point you are discussing? Generally the other party owns the right to reproduce their work and to place it on the net. If you do use someone else's material to illustrate an argument or point you are making the best tactic is to accredit the author of the work as the creator and place an acknowledgement of where the work came from. For example, under a photo put "Textile design by © Esmerelda Thargaminda (www.semereldathargaminda.tv). The accreditation of the author, naming the work (if it is titled) and the site where the work can be seen should overcome most problems. If you're discussing the work favourably and people take notes of your comments and want to learn more, they have the means to find out and this in the commercial sense can only be a good thing.

Some problems can arise in the USA with their Fair Use concept (Australia does not have such a defence - our defences relate to private study, criticism and review). If an image is so good that an exact copy can be made from it - and sold as a photo created by Cecil Beaton for example - then there can be an issue of infringement of copyright if the work is being made available for copying. The best thing to do if you are using work from American sources or about American artists is to seek some advice as liability, for these issues can arise regardless of the fact that you are not in the USA.

A greater problem arises if you use music MP3 recordings that are protected by copyright on your blog. The public access and downloading of copyright musical recordings is an infringement of copyright so you cannot and should not use recordings of Killing Heidi for example, or other bands to facilitate the experience of your blog. Best advice: avoid using music unless it is out of copyright!

What about quotes you put on your blog? e.g. "Paul Sugden said in 1978, Life is a never ending staircase with an ever receding landing." That is sufficient acknowledgement to avoid issues of copyright,as the amount of text is so little this could not be seen as a literary work, and plagiarism issues don't arise as you have credited me with saying the phrase, and when. In general, quotes with proper accreditation are fine and will not lead to problems.

What about people who log quotes and statements and discussions to your blog, or who take statements from your blog and use them? In these cases the best idea is to apply a creative commons attribution license to the front page of your blog. This says that people can copy, reproduce and display work so long as they accredit the author. For further information on this issue see the website http://www.creativecommons.org.au.

In most cases using these licenses will solve problems that could arise from a copyright perspective. If you are contacted by someone saying that the information on your blog infringes copyright the best action is to remove the offending piece and seek legal advice.