About Copyright

NOTICE: This Website and its entire contents are Copyright ©1998, 2003, 2005 by J. Jeffrey Bragg and Jack R. Murray. All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, for any purpose (including club newsletters) other than personal educational use, without written permission from the author. Photographs and graphics may not be downloaded separately from the website or used for any purpose. Theft of intellectual property is a serious offense subject to prosecution under federal statutes and international copyright laws.

MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT COPYRIGHT seems to be a problem these days. Many people who seem to think that if it's on the WorldWide Web it's free for the taking, for them to use and abuse. The Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project, for example, has endured the theft and misuse of photographs, text, and even the SSSD Breed Standard by web pirates, including well-meaning Siberian Husky breed clubs. No one asked permission to use any of those items. Several offenders have now been forced to remove those items from their website. It's called "theft of intellectual property."

International copyright law and practice provide as follows:

Copyright of original works does not have to be registered or applied for. It is automatic as soon as the work is written or produced. Registration is entirely optional and confers no rights that the author does not already have prior to or in the absence of registration!

Copyright applies to any original work: essays, books, articles, pamphlets, photographs, graphics, sound recordings, material on websites. (The only important exception seems to be book titles, which cannot be copyrighted.)

The use of a copyright notice and the international symbol © are encouraged, but copyright is not affected by their absence.

In addition to copyright, the law recognises what are called 'moral rights' which are described by the Canadian government copyright office as follows:

"Even if you sell your copyright to someone else, you still retain what are called "moral rights". This means that no one, including the person who owns the copyright, is allowed to distort, mutilate or otherwise modify your work in a way that is prejudicial to your honour or reputation. Your name must also be associated with the work as its author, if reasonable in the circumstances. In addition, your work may not be used in association with a product, service, cause or institution in a way that is prejudicial to your honour or reputation without your permission."

THESE PROVISIONS OF COPYRIGHT LAW mean that you may not appropriate material you find on this website and re-write it to reflect your own opinions or to serve your own purposes. They mean that you may not download our photographs and use them (as the ISSSC used them) for websites, teeshirts, sweatshirts, and coffee mugs. You may not reprint articles and photos in club newsletters without written permission.

WE ENCOURAGE VISITORS to our site to download documents for their own personal use. That is why we have the documents online and why we have provided MS Word files for downloading. We are happy to provide this free educational material. In return, we ask you to respect our rights and not to make unauthorised use of the material we have provided for your information and enjoyment. Thank you!