Messing about in boats since 1975.  Online Since 1997.

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Copyright

This Article Copyright 2021 Michael Kasten


Notes Regarding Use of Our Copyrighted Web Site Content

All images, drawings and written material at www.kastenmarine.com are copyrighted materials, originated by Michael Kasten of Kasten Marine Design, Inc. All content at these domains has been registered with the US Library of Congress and the US Copyright Office.

Copyright violations will be prosecuted. Copyright violation / infringement will be considered to have occurred in any of the following cases:

For questions regarding the use of materials at these domains, please inquire about our "Fair Use" policy and terms, thank you. Please see the following for information regarding the legal basis for copyright.
 


Legal Notes Regarding Copyright in General

Below is a brief summary of US and International copyright law relevant to the ownership of drawings, writings and other materials that are developed during the process of creating a design, a sketch, a piece of writing, or basically any creative work. The following wording is from Circular #1 published by the US Copyright Office, and is current to the best of my knowledge.
 

What is Copyright...?

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, CFR), as well as internationally by agreement with member nations to the Universal Copyright Convention and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Copyright is a personal property right, and is subject to the laws regarding ownership and transfer of personal property.

Copyright law protects works both published and unpublished, including graphics and drawings, digital or otherwise. Copyright protection exists from the moment a work is created in fixed form. It is coincident with the process of authorship. The copyright to any created work immediately becomes the property of the author at the moment of authorship.

A copyright need not be formally applied for, nor formally granted: Copyright is automatic.

Proof of copyright ownership is enhanced by registering the copyright, but copyright ownership is not created by registration. Copyright protection is also enhanced by giving "notice of copyright" on the work itself.

Notice of copyright consists of:

1. The word "Copyright" or the symbol © (the letter C in a circle), followed by
2. The date of creation, and
3. The author's name.

Only the author of a work can rightfully claim copyright. A work that is especially commissioned, such as a painting, a drawing, a piece of writing, a design, a book, or a graphic is the copyrighted property of the author. Among other kinds of work, copyright protects literary, pictorial, graphic, and architectural works.

Transfers of copyright ownership are made by contract. The parties may expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the copyright is to be transferred to a party other than the author. Without such a contract, a commissioned work belongs entirely to the author.

How Long Does Copyright Endure...?

Copyright endures for the author's life, plus 50 years.

However, in the case of works "made for hire" where ownership is transferred by contract to a party other than the author, copyright endures for 100 years from creation, or for 75 years from the date of publishing, whichever is less.
 

What are the Penalties...?

Per the copyright notice given on each of my web pages, I have reserved all rights to the works I have published at www.kastenmarine.com.

Unauthorized use of that work is unlawful, pursuant to the US Federal Copyright Act and International Copyright Law, and constitutes an infringement of my rights under 17 USC 101, et seq. Such unauthorized use could make the infringing party liable for statutory damages as high as USD $150,000 per violation, as set forth in Section 504(c)(2). Attorney’s fees and costs can also be recovered.

Moreover, copyright infringement is a direct violation of International Copyright Law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Continued infringement entitles me to seek an injunction, puts the infringing party at risk for associated damages, and entitles me to contact the infringing party's ISP or Web Hosting Provider along with each major search engine, which could result in the infringing party's web site being shut down and taken off-line.

Briefly, the penalties are not worth the risk..! If you have questions regarding the use of the written or graphic content that I have put online, please inquire.
 

Hot Link Policy

In the web design community, "hot-linking" refers to linking directly to non-html files on another web site, in other words linking to non-html files that are not located on one's own web-site. Typical examples of non-html content are GIF or JPEG images, or PDF files etc.

I have actively tried to break incoming hot-links because I view it as a form of 'bandwidth stealing' or more bluntly, theft, whereby the violator enjoys being able to deliver my images and / or PDF files without having to pay their own ISP for that delivery, and without crediting the source of that content.

If you have landed at this page via a direct link at another web site, blog, forum or newsgroup, please see our Site Map to find the local web page where you think the image may be located. Alternately, you can easily search for the image or PDF by name or key word on my Site Search page.

If you are creating online content and you would like to directly link to any of the web pages at www.kastenmarine.com, I WELCOME AND I ENCOURAGE YOUR LINK..!! However if you would like to create a link to a GIF or JPEG or PDF that I have placed online, please instead create a link to the web page on which you found the image or PDF...!

Thank you for visiting www.kastenmarine.com... Please return soon...!