Module 3 Tasks - WWW Standards Legal Issues

Obviously when writing for the web, we need to be aware of the sorts of legislation surrounding ‘published material’: most obviously copyright and Intellectual property.

Consider these questions:
have you used images or words on your web page or website that contravene copyright laws?

The words and images that I have used on my web page would not be considered to have contravened copyright laws. The strongest argument to defend this would be that the material comes under the banner of 'fair use' or 'fair dealing'. Fair dealing under the copyright Act of 1968 applies to limited use of materials for educational purposes. It would be difficult to argue against this in this case. In addition, the material for the Volcano web page was obtained with permission and again used for educational purposes.

Would you be in breach of copyright if you put the Curtin logo at the top of your web page for an assignment?

Using the following paragraph, taken from the Curtin University Copyright statement, it would not be a breach to use the Curtin Logo at the top of web page that is used for an assignment. This page was accessed 20/4/07. Site address: http://global.curtin.edu.au/legal/copyright.cfm

"Under the "fair dealing" provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia Copyright Act 1968 an individual may make a single copy of a "reasonable portion" of the material on this site without prior permission or payment, provided it is for the purposes of research or study, criticism or review."

Since writing the above I have found a specific Curtin document relating to use of the Curtin Logo. Procedure Reference A002/P1.2 states that the logo is a registered trademark protected from unauthorized use and may only be released upon approval by University Marketing. Source: Procedure Reference A002/P1.2 http://www.policies.curtin.edu.au/documents/Logo_use.doc Accessed 26/7/07.