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Understanding the basics of copyright law is important for anyone working in a creative field, and that includes web developers and designers. This series of videos on the basics of copyright and licensing is going to help you work smarter and better on the web.
The information in this video series is for educational purposes only. If you ever have any questions or concerns about your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact a lawyer.
Hi, I'm Chris, part of the team here at Treehouse.
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Before I came to Treehouse, I worked for a large non-profit on the team that ran their website.
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One day we got a letter from a large stock photography company.
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They said, "Hey, you guys are using some of our images on your website
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"and you didn't pay for them, so here's a bill for thousands of dollars."
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It turns out a web designer who had left the company years ago,
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ahd just grabbed the images from who knows where, probably Google images,
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thinking it was no big deal.
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Well, it took a few years for it to be a big deal,
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but it was a big deal.
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If they hadn't left already, they probably would have lost their job over it.
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So knowing not to go to Google images for your sites content, is important for sure,
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but it's only the beginning when we're talking about copyright.
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Understanding the basics of copyright and licensing
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is important for anybody working in a creative field.
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That doesn't just mean film-makers and musicians.
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We're talking web designers, developers, mobile devs, you're all artists.
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The work that you creat is creative.
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You're not just hammering away on some factory assembly line.
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You're using your creativity to make websites, to make iPhone apps, whatever it is.
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And you not only create copyrighted works every day,
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you work with them, you use the copyrighted work of others
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whenever you install a new piece of software, add a stock photo to your site,
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even working with fonts requires a little bit of copyright knowledge.
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This series of videos is going to give you that good foundation of knowledge
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that will allow you to work within the law, to read license agreements,
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protect your own work, and even freely share what you create with the rest of the world.
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