-Copying? Yeah Right! Copyright Issues for Print Media-

When hearing about copyright issues, most people immediately think of the music and film industries, both of which have a lot of difficulty in suppressing the illegal copying, downloading, and distributing of their work thanks to the modern age’s ever advancing technology.  But if people think those industries have it bad, it’s been an endless cycle of copyrighting problems for print media, as far back as people can imagine.

The main problem they face is that the copyrighted work—be it text, pictures, charts, etc—is continually being copied and distributed to others, even if it seems like a harmless and innocent act.  A great example is when teachers photocopy pages and material out of a textbook for the class’ students: this textbook has certainly been copyrighted, and even a small act like this is in direct violation of the laws in place for copyrighting.  Worse still though, is when individuals take the copyrighted work of others and try to pass it off as their own work, most commonly found once again in schools, as students might be prone to this activity for when they have to write research papers and other types of essays. 

Due to this rather rampant problem, much has been enacted to rectify and remedy any future issues that may arise for print media, including compensation to the original publishers to punishment to those who copy the work.  For example, plagiarism is a very serious offense in schools and the policies are always reviewed over when a teacher assigns writing work to students.  In addition to a constant review of the policies, students found plagiarizing face strict consequences, including an automatic failure of the course and potential problems to their reputation within the school system.  In addition, authors and anyone else who creates the work are entitled to royalties for the granted copying of their work for others’ use (i.e.-the teacher making class photocopies example), as well as those creators retaining the rights to their work for their life spans PLUS an additional 70 years after their passing.