Wikis and blogs
General
Posting text or images on the internet is a form of issuing copies to the public. Therefore, all material on the internet is protected by copyright unless the owner specifically permits reproduction of the published materials. For example:
- music
- images.
To find out whether permission is required or whether you should contact the other party, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself: What would I do if another publisher did this with my publication? You will often find the right answer.
Using someone else's copyrighted work is not permitted without a licence. Do not pay before you have received the signed permission.
What is permitted?
You are free to report facts and ideas embodied in other people's articles or web pages. Copyright only protects the expression - the combination of words and structure that expresses the factual information -not the facts themselves.
Freely post text, images, pictures, and videos that you create yourself. These are your works and you are the author and the copyright holder.
Adding a hyperlink to someone else’s site is deemed to be the same as adding a footnote. The conditions for such use are that the hyperlink must be linked to a specific page ('deep linking') and does not cause the page to open on your own page ('framing').
Quotations must always be functional proportional and used in a serious informative context.
Additional recommendations
When using photos, always check whether their use in a particular context is permitted. Particularly when using a photo of an unknown person in a negative context, it is important that you obtain clear, preferably written, permission from the relevant person in advance.
In the case of music use, you should first consult the collective music rights society in your own country on the rates and terms and conditions.
Pay special attention to sites that offer collections of images, sounds, etc. Most icon archives have large numbers of icons from various sources and offer these under their own licence. However, its creator copyrights each individual icon, and unless this person has given the icon archive a licence, the archive is not permitted to make that icon available. Therefore, do not immediately assume that an icon in a public archive can be used freely.
Important
If Maastricht University is held liable for the infringement of intellectual property rights or other rules and regulations and/or for infringing on the rights of third parties, Maastricht University will reclaim the damages from the user causing the damage: Conditions of use and management of MAASnet UM.
The aim of these guidelines is to provide the bare essentials regarding the copyright aspects of web design, particularly wikis and blogs. Therefore, no rights may be derived from this guide as it only serves informative purposes.
