Report: Legal Issues

Regarding: Legislative Constraints

In this report I will be explaining how I have considered the

legislative constraints when obtaining images, material and media
from the internet and using them within my own digital portfolio.
The reason I am doing this is because of legal governments.
When I am building a digital portfolio I know that it is important to
understand the term legislation. I know that legislation is the act or
process of making or enacting laws, suggested by a government and
made official by a parliament. The copyright law states that I can
obtain the images/media for my digital portfolio for a certain number
of months.
Copyright law forbids me from:
Giving a copy of image/media to a friend
Making a copy of image/media and then selling it
Using the image/media on a network (unless the licence allows
it)
Renting the image/media without the permission of the
copyright holder
The length for Copyright laws stands for the life of the original
author, adding on 70 years.
The images/multimedia I will obtain from the internet are usually
subject to copyright, this means I will have to obtain the permission
of the copyright owner of those images. Although national laws may
allow some limited use without permission under the terms of fair
use or fair dealing, these are very limited and quite specific
exceptions. If I am in any doubt whatsoever, I should always get the
permission of the copyright owner. If Im found guilty of copyright
infringement or plagiarism I could face legal charges, fines, receive
infringement letters or in extreme cases even imprisonment.
It may be possible to obtain permission via a private agreement. In
such cases I should ensure that I can get an agreement in writing to
avoid any future disagreements. Section 204 (a) of the Copyright Act
provides that a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless an

Report: Legal Issues

instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the
transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed
or by such owners duly authorized agent. Therefore a copyright
cannot be assigned by an exchange of emails.

For photographs/images, it is normal to contact the

photographer/artist/owner, (or company), that took the images. As
they will normally control the rights to the photos/images, and will
have their own reproduction or duplication charges.
Simply stated, the sooner I request permission, the better. I must
await a reply.
To speed up any request, I should include the following information
in a request:
A full description of the work I wish to use:
The name of the author and title of the work.
An exact description of the content I wish to include.
(Including any title, version,
illustrations/images/diagrams, numbers, start and end
points of the extract required, etc.)
How the work will be used:
If I will change the image in any way, I should give
specific details of the changes, and assurances that the
work will not be used to mislead, slander, or bring the
author into disrepute. Images will be used ethically.
I should give assurances that the work will be properly
attributed.

I should also always include the source or the material and state the
name of the owner and include the correct copyright notice for the
copied work. I am also aware that someone may use my own
copyrighted work/images and design.

Report: Legal Issues

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons is a copyright license. A CC license is used
when an author for example wants to give people the right to
share, use, and build upon a work that they have created.
A CC license will protect me if I use or redistribute an authors work
from concerns of copyright infringement as long as I abide by the
conditions that are specified in the license by which the author
distributes the work.
Lizzie Malessy Digital Portfolio designer