Is Creative Commons For You? – PodcastingTricks.com

Many podcasters and bloggers have decided to use the Creative Commons License to protect their work. This is different from the U.S. Copyright Act. It doesn’t provide the same legal protections and in fact, no major court has yet upheld any part of Creative Commons in a dispute relating to blogging or podcasting.

So why do so many podcasters use CC? I don’t know. I can only guess that it’s a case of follow the leader. But you should be aware of the differences between U.S. Copyright laws and the CC.

If someone distributes, alters, sells or makes a copy of your podcast, for profit or not, under the U.S. Copyright Act, you have certain protections. If you register your show with the U.S. Copyright Office, and someone violates your copyrights, you may be entitled to money damages.

The majority of “experts” talking about this subject on the Internet aren’t lawyers. And neither am I. But I did talk with several lawyers about this and I think the podcasting community might be in for a rude awakening once the popularity of podcasts starts to attract big business and those who are not so ethical that follow.

The riff I read all the time on the web is that the U.S. Copyright Act offers the standard “All Rights Reserved” approach while CC offers “Some Rights Reserved.” The fact is, there’s more to it than that. The U.S. Copyright Act provides a list of exclusive rights to the podcaster and ONLY the podcaster has the right to sell or grant these rights. And if someone violates Copyrights, the U.S. Federal District Court has jurisdiction and there is an easy, well-known path to enforcement. Copyright attorneys regularly accept copyright cases on a contingency basis which means you don’t pay them unless they win.

In th case of CC, the rights protected may vary. And the license itself isn’t even a legal or binding contract in some jurisdictions. The biggest problem with CC is that there is no simple path to enforcement. That means, if someone violates your rights under a CC license, you’ll most likely have to sue them in a local court, where they do business or reside and you’ll have to pay all legal fees. Also, since there’s little or no precident for courts to follow, it could be years before we even know if the CC license can be enforced in a way that makes economic sense.

The goal of CC is to make information more freely available. And I think that’s a good goal. But if you are trying to make a living from your podcast as I am, beware. CC may not offer the protections you think it does.

NOTES: If you are a non-U.S. resident, the U.S. Copyright Act may still apply to you through various treaties such as the Berne Convention.

While her work is aimed at photographers, almost all of the information found at Carolyn Wright’s excellent PhotoAttorney website regarding Copyright would be applicable to podcasters. It’s a great resource worthy of your attention if you’re interested in this subject.