Maine State Grange

Staying Out of Copyright Jail

By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director

This may not be the most exciting and entertaining column I’ve written in a while, but it could be one of the more important. A few years ago a number of Granges in California got into some serious trouble due to copyrights and licensing. Not understanding and honoring copyright basics can get very expensive. There’s a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding. I’ll try to keep this short.

Copyright is about intellectual property. It literally establishes the ownership of a creative work (intellectual property). When I, for example, write a book copyright law establishes that I own the content and reserve the right to make copies of it. That’s why you’ll often see “All rights reserved,” as part of a copyright notice. As the owner, I can give (or sell) others the right to reproduce what I’ve written, but others can’t do so without my permission.

This affects the MSG website and Bulletin in a variety of ways. Let’s consider a few, but first let me say that social media in general and Facebook, in particular, are not good examples of copyright compliance. The comparison I would make is a friend who constantly speeds and somehow manages not to get caught. The reality is that they are still breaking the law and, if they do get caught, it may get quite expensive.

Example One: You have an event at your Grange. A local reporter shows up and writes a great article, takes some photos, and the article and photos are published in the newspaper. Generally, this is considered “work for hire,” and the newspaper owns the rights to that article. No one is supposed to “copy” it without permission—that’s the law. If you send me a copy, I can’t (won’t) post it.

Example Two: You write a press release about that same event. Pay attention to the word “release.” As the author, you have ownership of that article, and you are releasing it for publication—effectively giving the media permission to “copy” (print) it. We (in the media) like press releases. No fuss, no muss, no worries about posting or printing them.

Example Three: You write an article or column for the website. In it, you include a poem or quote from someone else’s book. This could be a problem—do you have the right to use it? If not, both you and I could be guilty of copyright infringement. This is not always an easy question to answer. There are some narrow exceptions to needing permission that include “fair use” (very difficult to determine) and public domain.

As Communications Director I tend to be ultra-conservative because a mistake or poor decision can create serious legal and financial liability for the Grange. It’s the same with photographs, especially of children. This can get complicated, but the short version is that we will not post photos that include children on the website unless we have written permission. (This is more about privacy than copyright.)

If you have questions or concerns about this, I’ll try to answer them, but please understand this can become a legal nightmare. Also, bear in mind that, while I’m happy to help, I cannot assume the responsibility for getting reprint permission for those submitting to the site. I am confident that, with a little common sense, we can all stay out of copyright jail!

► FACT: Your MSG website was viewed nearly 1500 times during December 2022–and over 20,000 times during the entire calendar year 2022.