Plagiarism and Copyright Law

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From the course by University of California, Davis

The Strategy of Content Marketing

206 ratings

University of California, Davis

The Strategy of Content Marketing

206 ratings

This course is a partnership between the leading content marketing authority, Copyblogger, and UC Davis Extension. In this course, you will learn the core strategies content marketers use to acquire and retain customers profitably. Specifically, you will learn how to develop, organize and implement a content marketing strategy, analyze and measure the effectiveness of content marketing, write compelling copy, use a strategic framework when writing, and build your professional brand and authority through content marketing. You will also learn how to put the ideas presented to you into action and build your own personal brand through content marketing.

From the lesson

Managing Your Content

For this module, you should look at it as an added bonus of content. This module will have you examine the role ethics play in successful organizations. You will be able to manage not only your content, but how you should manage yourself as a professional and practice good ethics. You will be able to establish ethical and professional guidelines for content marketing and be able to build a relationship with your organizations legal team to help guide you against plagiarism and copyright laws. You will be introduced to the world of metrics for content marketers and identify and analyze which metrics you should pay special attention to. The final lessons will focus on opportunities for new media and platforms for your content. You will be able to discuss how to get better audio and video qualities through structuring and scripting multimedia content. You will also identify various kinds of multimedia content.

Managing Your Content1:13

Ethics and Professionalism8:24

Plagiarism and Copyright Law9:37

Introduction to Metrics0:59

What Data Should I Pay Attention To?1:00

Multimedia Content - Visuals8:46

Multimedia Content - Audio and Video10:15

Meet the Instructors

Sonia Simone
Chief Content Officer
Rainmaker Digital, LLC

[MUSIC]

Hello, welcome back.

So we can't talk about ethics without about plagiarism.

And we can't talk about plagiarism without at least touching on copyright law.

This lesson follows well with the previous lesson.

And what you should be able to do is identify unethical behavior or

copyright infringement when you're working with images, quotes, etc.

You should be able to recognize your own ethics, and

use strategies that are considered ethical professional behavior.

So here's what I want you to understand about copyright law.

It is not as simple as some people would have you believe.

And I like to say,

don't be a Facebook lawyer, in other words don't be that person who gets legal advice

on Facebook despite the fact that you have no idea what you're talking about.

You're not an attorney, you've never represented a copyright case in court.

And don't listen to Facebook lawyers,

don't listen to people who will give you advice about that's fair use,

that's not fair use, and they really don't have the expertise to do that.

Whether or not a particular image, or a quote, or whatever is fair use,

is actually decided case by case by a jury.

And of course there are guidelines and best practices.

There are things you should do and things that don't make sense to do.

And again, that's for an attorney to advise you on,

based on the specifics of your situation, because it can change.

And you can actually find all kinds of copyright cases won

by people who would say, well that's fair use.

Well, the jury did not say it was fair use, and so it wasn't.

Now the simple way of course to get around this is to never to use material

you didn't create or you didn't pay for.

And when I say you, I mean your organization.

Do not let your organization try to get away with using images from the web.

Going to a Google image search, doing a search, and

then using that image to illustrate a podcast, a video, or a post.

Most companies won't do that, but I have seen so many crazy things in my work life.

So you know you have the rights to an image, and

images are particularly sensitive.

You know you have the rights to it if your company paid for it, or

if they had a photographer take it for the company as a work for hire.

And as your legal team will tell you,

there's also a question of the person who you took the photo of.

Have they signed a release for their image to used?

That again is taken care of when you do things like buy stock photos,

is taken care of when your company pays to photograph models on a shoot.

So your legal will be able to tell you all about that, but

if you don't have a legal team and you use pictures of people, typically

the stock photo companies will have all that paperwork taken care of for you.

But it's not a bad idea to just

read that legal stuff that they show you when you buy an image.

And I say this because copyright claims,

including requests for damages, which means requests for

money, are increasingly common with content and on the web.

And so getting caught using an image that you don't own the rights to,

can actually be very expensive.

So you just want to be aware of that fact, and play it a little conservative.

And then, of course, don't use other people's words as your own,

unless you're a ghostwriter and you've been paid for it.

You will in practice probably ghostwrite quite a bit for

other people as a content marketer.

It's very common to be asked for that.

It's a normal practice.

I have no problem with it ethically, because it's clear going into it that

that's the arrangement, and you're compensated for it.

Now it may be that you're not ethically comfortable with ghostwriting because,

let's face it, it is participating in an untruth.

You write the content and

the world thinks that the CEO wrote it ,or at least the gullible world does.

So if you have a problem with it you need to let your organization sort of

know that up front.

Because the expectation will normally be that you'll be willing to ghostwrite very

commonly for the executive team or the founder, and try and recreate their voice.

Now when we're talking about quotes, text quotes,

you're quoting from a published work, or another website, or

you're quoting anybody else's words that you didn't write and you didn't pay for.

Just keep in mind that part about the jury decides what's fair use and what's not.

There are legal guidelines,

normally we do use quotes in content and it's not a problem.

If you have a legal department, just make they're comfortable with it.

It is never a bad idea to ask permission if it's somebody else on the web who

you would be able to contact.

A little caution, again, will help a great deal.

The rules will change a little bit for contact,

just a blog post, published on the web, publisher discoverable.

Going to advertising, something put in a brochure or an advertising website.

Now again, that line gets blurry, between marketing copy on a website and content.

Very blurry.

And then the roles change a little bit more if you're actually going to use

it in a product, a product that you sell.

So again, legal team, your friend.

So talking about ethics,

let's talk a little bit about side hustles and moonlighting.

Now in my professional experience,

most writers who are employees in an organization do some moonlighting.

You should let the people you work with know if you're taking side jobs.

And of course, the main thing is don't let any kind of side gig or

side hustle interfere with the primary work you're getting paid for.

Make sure you're delivering what you're being paid for.

But whether or not you are moonlighting for pay, for compensation,

I think every writer and content marketer needs to have a website

that you use to promote and maintain your own brand as a professional.

So, normally that's a blog.

Sometimes you can combine that with a podcast.

And then that blog should have pointers to excellent material you have written.

Content, guest posts, if you can get it, portfolio pieces for your clients.

And ideally, you have all of that in one place when you started your assignment or

your new job.

And then that's just part and parcel of who you are.

And let them know that you do plan to maintain your blog just as a professional,

just to keep your professional network open and healthy.

So, here is something I have seen, so I will warn you not to do it.

I think you're probably too savvy to do this,

but never gossip about your co-workers on your blog.

And never gossip or say anything negative about the employer or

your contract, when you're employed there.

And I know that that sounds kind of obvious but

I've seen people get stuck by it.

And I think the reason people get stuck, is they have a feeling that their blog and

also their social media posts, their Facebook posts,

LinkedIn, Twitter, Google +, whatever it is.

Whatever platform it might be.

People are under the apprehension that this is private, and

it is not at all private.

Even if your Facebook account is pretty locked down,

even oddly enough if you're using a pseudonym.

People have been fired for making kind of comments,

or inappropriate behavior, racist behavior,

racism, straight up inappropriate, always in every aspect of your life.

Do not do it, it's not ethical and it's not being a good person.

Doing these things in private,

theoretically anything on the web can be found.

And anything on the web can be shared.

Even on a private conference or a private Facebook group.

Don't say it if you're not willing to be held accountable for it.

And then just a final wrap up on professionalism.

It seems like a small thing.

It's rarer than you might think.

Master this and you will do really well professionally.

You will get recommendations, you'll find it easy to get new jobs.

Meet your deadlines.

Seems so simple, but so many writers don't do it.

Are there really isn't any excuse for it.

Real emergencies,

a real emergency where you cannot get to your deadline is so rare.

Especially if you have started work in a reasonable amount of time to complete

the project, and you've given yourself some wiggle room.

So meet your deadlines.

Meet your deadlines.

Meet your deadlines.

It's so key to professionalism.

It will really make you stand out, and it's easy to do.

You just have to get a little bit of a handle on your time.

All right, so I'm just going to sum this up for you so

you can just kind of get a refresher.

Don't lie and don't agree to participate in lies.

Make friends with the lawyers.

Set the right expectations with customers or clients of the organization.

Advocate for those customers and clients,

and make them your priority for the good of the whole organization.

With a few exceptions, don't use images, sound files, or text,

that your company didn't create or pay for.

Do not gossip about your colleagues or organization on your blog or

your social media accounts.

Do not publish anything in any medium, with or

without a pseudonym, unless you are willing to be held accountable for it.

And finally, meet those deadlines.

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