Blogging and Plagiarism

All bloggers should be aware and fully understand the laws on copyright. Bloggers who hope to be among the best in blogging should value the principle that original content is a must in blog writing.

If you created your own blog, be mindful that the content of your site is written originally. You need to know that every article in the internet is with copyright and you should avoid copy posting it to your blog.

Unfortunately, a lot of people misunderstand the importance of copyright. Maybe one of the reasons for this is that the law itself proves to be confusing to the people who go into blogging. Another reason would be wrong information of bloggers because of incorrect ideas and information accessible through the internet. Sadly, a lot of bloggers do not have any knowledge and others do not give any interest at all.

A lot of bloggers who have not learned and are completely oblivious of the laws on copyright fall into plagiarism and content copying. The pitfalls of copyright can cause some legal issues or you might be sued by other bloggers because of your copyright violations.

It is highly important to keep yourself informed about updated copyright issues so you can protect your blog and credibility. Here are important tips on copyright for bloggers to be aware of:

Tip #1: Copyrights are with published and saved contents

You need to understand that there is no need to place a copyright notice or a watermark on each and every post you have. Consider it to have a copyright once the article or blog post is saved. Your article or blog post should not be copied by anyone once you have fixed your ideas in your article.

Aside from being sued, you may face potential damages because of copyright violations especially when you have registered your blog or articles to the US Copyright Office. People who would want to protect their work can demand for removal of copied articles and posts.

Tip #2: Attributing work done will not suffice permission from author

Bloggers are not permitted to just copy and post items on the web even as we say that giving back the credit is a nice thing to do. Take note that not all cases of plagiarism can be considered as infringement and not all infringements are to be considered as plagiarism.

Tip #3: Rewriting content by changing words will not create a new article or blog post.

If the copying and pasting is not verbatim, it does not follow that it is not regarded as an infringement case. Copyright is not just a right to copy a work or own an idea, it covers a set of exclusive rights to make new articles or work based on the original content with minor alterations on words such as sequels and spin offs.

Bear in mind that, just because an article is not identical to the original one does not indicate it is not an infringement.

Final Note

This is just a basic outline of some of the most important data that bloggers should know about copyright. If you are a blogger, your understanding about the rules of copyright is a must so you will know your rights and can avoid damages.