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WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Distributing or offering to distribute copies of a work to the public is considered publication. Such distribution may be free or paid.

If you want the most unassailable copyright protection, you should take formal steps to acquire it as soon as any material is published.

News releases, features, and illustrations accompanying them are not normally copyrighted. Booklets, leaflets, books, and similar publications usually are copyrighted unless there is a desire to allow others to reproduce them. In that case, it is customary to place a notice in the publication stating that reproduction and distribution of copies is permissible without charge.

□ Words and word-combinations

1. copyright — авторское право

2. to copyright — обеспечивать авторское право

3. copyright law — закон о защите авторских прав

4. copyright notice — предупреждение о сохранении авторского права

5. copyright protection — охрана авторских прав

6. free — бесплатный

7. rental — сумма арендной платы; рентный доход

8. lease — аренда, наем

9. lending — ссуда, заем

10. without charge — бесплатно

Fair Use and Infringement

As a public relations writer, you will use information and materials from a variety of sources. Therefore, it is important for you to understand thoroughly the dividing line between fair use and copyright infringement.

Fair use of materials, in general, can be done for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. If you are writing something and want to use a quotation from a copyrighted article or book, you may do so as long as you give proper credit to the author and the source.

If you quote a lengthy passage from an article or a book, however, it is best to get permission. In general, using a paragraph from a 1,000-word article is acceptable, but using several paragraphs might constitute copyright infringement if permission has not been obtained. Writers should also be careful about using whole paragraphs of copy­righted material with only a few words changed. If the content and structure of the sentences are virtually the same, this constitutes not merely copyright infringement but also plagiarism, a form of theft.

Writers of company newsletters and magazines, primarily using information for news reporting purposes, generally are within the boundaries of the fair use concept. Writers who prepare materials directly supporting the sales of a product or service (news releases, advertisements, promotional brochures), however, need to be more concerned about copyright infringement.

The use of a selected quotation from an outside source in a product news release or sales brochure, for example, should be cleared with the source. The reason is that you're directly profiting from using someone else's material to sell goods and services.