A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort (Wikipedia: Creative Work, 2020). This could be film making, composition, dance, literature, artwork and in our case website development or programming. These can also be termed as intellectual property as they are original works of people’s minds. In order to protect people’s ideas and creations, intellectual property rights have been put in place. These include, copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets (Long, 2020). These rights have also been put in place to encourage creativity.

Therefore, there are ethical constraints on how far you should go in using the creative work of others. Indeed, the original authors of creative work deserve credit for their works. More so, they deserve remuneration for their efforts. Any use of an author’s original work should be used under the author’s consent and should be acknowledged.

We can use other people’s intellectual property but only under acceptable use policies. Firstly, the right to fair use. Fair use is a limitation on copyright law that allows for the use of protected works without prior authorization in specific cases (Bourgeois, n.d). This is for instance making parodies in television shows such as Saturday night live. Another acceptable use policy is the first sale doctrine which provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner.

In order to avoid legal issues, it is advised that the analyst considers the copyright concerns when designing and creating the website. The analyst should assume that the work is protected by copyright law. A work is not public simply because it has been posted in the public domain. Also, if someone complains about copyright infringement, seek evidence of copyright ownership and validity from the person.

Finally, the analyst should be very careful and note the parts of a website that could be copyrighted. The domain name or URL isn’t copyrightable, nor is the layout, look, or feel of a webpage. Links to other websites don’t reside on your website so you can’t copyright them. You can’t copyright ideas, such as plans for future websites, or functional design elements, because you can only copyright what’s in place on your website when you apply for the copyright. Common, unoriginal material, such as names, icons, or familiar symbols are not subject to copyright (Business law and taxes: The balancesmall business, n.d)

References

Bourgeois, D. T. (n.d). Information Systems for Business and Beyond. Retrieved from PRESSBOOKS: https://bus206.pressbooks.com/chapter/chapter-12-the-ethical-and-legal-implications-of-information-systems/

Business law and taxes: The balancesmall business. (n.d). Retrieved from the balancesmall business.

Long, B. (2020). Business Law : Brewer Long. Retrieved from Brewer Long: https://brewerlong.com/information/business-law/four-types-of-intellectual-property/

Wikipedia: Creative Work. (2020). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_work