If I find it on the web I can use it, right?

The world-wide web makes it so easy to find just about anything we want to find, and that also makes it seem as though it is all out there for us to use any way we like. Oops! Not quite. You still need to consider copyright issues.

Most congregations are familiar with the CCLI license for legally using music in a bulletin and for congregational singing. The service has expanded to include availability of licenses for

• copying activities that assist with congregational singing, including computer projections, song sheets, bulletin inserts, recording your service
• transposable chord sheets, lead sheets and vocal sheets, plus lyrics and audio samples for top CCLI songs
• legally copying and sharing commercial audio recordings for rehearsal purposes
• legally streaming or making podcasts of your live-recorded worship music over the internet - That's right, you can't just put a recording of your choir on your website!

Visit us.ccli.com to find out more.

Do you love Google Images? It is so neat to find pictures to illustrate your text. The ones that have "copyright" embedded in them are obviously off limits, but what about all the others? Unless you are sure that something is in the public domain, you need permission, possibly after paying a fee, to use it. You should even have permission from the photographer to use the pictures someone else took at the parish picnic!

You aren’t entirely without resources, however. There is a Creative Commons License that allows the use of material that has been created and shared under that license, provided that proper attribution and a link to the license is given. You can find material that is available under this license at search.creativecommons.org/ .Two popular users of this are Flickr and YouTube. Find out all about this at creativecommons.org/ .

What it all comes down to is that most of what is out there is copyrighted material. It is permissible to use small portions of work under the "Fair Use Doctrine":

It is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances. (From www.copyright.gov.)

In general fair use sets out four factors to be considered:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for,or value of, the copyrighted work."

(From www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html.)

These rules apply to all intellectual property, written, video, audio or any other medium. When in doubt, you must assume that the material is copyrighted. Just citing the author and source is not sufficient to protect against copyright infringement proceedings. The same internet that makes things so easy for us to find also enables robot programs to search the web, including your parish newsletter pdf, to find violations of copyrights. Yes, it does happen and the result can be a lawsuit with a hefty fine for violation! It could happen to you for reprinting a poem or song lyrics even though you gave credit to the author.

To find out more, check fairuse.stanford.edu, a website on Copyright and Fair Use from Stanford University.

Jan Paxton has been working on church websites since 1996, working with John Rollins on the Episcopal Church's website while he was managing editor. A long-time member of the dicoesan Technology Committee, Jan is now a member of the diocesan Church Website Project team, as well as the editor of several websites including that of Province II of The Episcopal Church. Those who have attended the Annual Diocesan Convention will have seen her, along with John Rollins, seated on the dais managing the audio/visuals. Jan and John have also produced the Mission Minutes videos for the past few Conventions.