Friday Favorites: Copyright Edition

This Friday, we’re all about copyrights! Here are a few excellent resources we’ve found this week to help guide you through some copyright-related issues.

• “The Pointless Copyright Freakout Over Pinterest” by Mike Masnick of TechDirt

Pinterest has been making waves these past few months—among adoring fans, bloggers, and lawyers alike. Mr. Masnick gives us a closer look at the legal issues (or nonissues, depending on who you talk to) surrounding Pinterest as it relates to photographers. Threat or opportunity? You be the judge.

• “Looking Good: Simple Ways to Create Sensational Blog Images” by Jo Gifford, guest blog post on ProBlogger

For some reason, copyright infringement for images—especially images found online—seems to be a lot more misunderstood than similar infringement for text and other mediums. Jo Gifford neatly sidesteps this issue by bringing you great tips on creating your own blog and website images, both giving you interesting and fresh material and keeping you infringement-free.

• “Dutch Research Reveals Wide Scope For Copyright Flexibilities In EU Laws” by Glyn Moody of PHPHosts

If you feel like current copyright laws are laughably rigid and stifle creativity and innovation, you’re not alone. But in the Netherlands, there’s hope. This excellent post highlights some of the areas of fair use that the Dutch government is taking steps to expand on have the potential to pave the way for the future of copyright protection.

• “What Is Copyright Infringement?” by Sarah Kolb of Click&Inc’s Business Blog

Until the Netherlands rule the world, here’s one from the vaults: this two-part posting from May of 2011 is a Q&A-syle look at some of the commonly misunderstood areas of copyright infringement as it is today.

Happy weekend!