Technological Advancements and Copyright

Copyright

The United States Copyright Office was established in 1897 to protect the work of designers and artists. The office administers the U.S. Copyright Act 1976 and other laws and regulations governing copyrighted work (U.S. Copyright Office). According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA 78), a professional association involved in airing and protecting the interests of artists and designers, copyright safeguards the ownership of work originally created by a designer. With copyright protection, the designer exclusively controls whether the work can be copied or not. The designer maintains exclusive rights to reproduce, display, perform and license the work. Accordingly, the owner of a copyright can sue for damages in the event of copyright infringement. Nonetheless, even with legal mechanisms as well as AIGA and other professional associations such as the Graphic Artists Guild, copyright protection remains a challenge.

The challenge of copyright protection has even been greater in today's digital world. Owing to technological advancements, designers and artists now rely on the internet to showcase and sell their work. Whereas this has enabled designers and artists to target a wider audience, it has presented the challenge of administering copyright protection due to the complex nature of the online environment. The internet offers anonymity and users can easily infringe copyright without detection. Indeed, copyright infringement is more pervasive online than offline. Even so, it is important to note that copyright protection covers not only offline content, but also online content. In other words, copyrighted images do not lose their copyright protection on account of being posted on the internet. In fact, as per the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyrighted work posted on the internet retains its copyright protection.

Three online sites that provide access to graphic content include Hubble Heritage, Clipart.com, and Fonts.com. Clipart.com is the largest subscription-based resource for graphic content on the web. The site provides access to more than 1,500,000 clipart images, photos, animations, fonts, and sounds to its subscribers. The site clearly states that its content is protected by copyright and that it cannot be reproduced (Clipart.com). Account holders who infringe the site's copyright are subject to termination of their account. Anyone seeking to use content from Clipart.com must seek permission from the owner of the copyright. Fonts.com also provides access to graphic content on the web. Providing thousands of clipart images, animations, and photos in both low and high resolution, it is one of the largest resources for graphics on the web. The site's content is also protected by copyright and cannot be reproduced without authorisation (Fonts.com). Hubble Heritage provides content relating to the outer space. Unlike Clipart.com and Fonts.com, Hubble Heritage only requires a credit line for the reproduction of its images. So long as the credit line is included, individuals or organisations can reproduce images owned by Hubble Heritage without requesting for permission (Hubble Heritage).