For most Biografica clients, copyright will not be an issue because you are purely writing about your life and memories. For a handful of our users, it may be an issue that needs consideration.
This post is intended to raise awareness of your obligation to check anything you reproduce that has been created by someone else.
Copyright law varies from country to country so we provide some useful links below.
Copyright of material you use in your story
When writing your story you might wish to use quotes from books, songs, or upload photographs. It's important to know that as a rule of law in most countries, anything created by another person is protected by copyright law. That means you need to ask their permission to reproduce it. Facts, which includes song or book titles or similar, are excluded and can be quoted freely.
If you include your favourite quote from a book, a song lyric you love, or reproduce a photograph from an online source in your life story, you are most likely reproducing work that someone else owns and it will be subject to copyright protection. Always assume what you quote is subject to copyright law.
If you are only going to reproduce your life story for your own use, or perhaps a handful of copies to give to your closest family, then you are not profiting from the book and it is for personal use only. In this case, it is probably ok, and in the US you would most likely fall under the 'fair use' rule and you will not run into trouble with copyright.
If there is a chance you might print copies of your life story in the future and sell them or give them more widely to people, the situation changes. You should then consider whether you need to include those items you have included. If you wish to use them, then you may need to seek permission for their use. If they are not critical, and you don't want the process of obtaining permission, then consider dropping them.
Public domain and copyright law in the US
In the US, 'fair use' allows individuals to use copyright material without permission, provided that the use is fair. You may see more from the US government. All works created prior to 1923 are now in the public domain and you may use them freely. For more detail on the US.
Public domain and copyright law in the UK
Generally speaking in the UK, an artwork comes out of copyright and enters the public domain 70 years after the death of the artist. For more detail on the UK.
Public domain and copyright law in Australia
Generally speaking in Australia, an artwork comes out of copyright and enters the public domain 70 years after the death of the artist, or from when the artwork was made public. For more detail on Australia.
The Copyright Council provides these useful free guides about what can be used where.
Public domain and copyright law in New Zealand
New Zealand is more complicated and is covered here. For more detail on New Zealand.
Public domain and copyright law in Canada
Generally speaking in Canada, the copyright for a work expires 50 years after the death of the creator, at the end of the relevant calendar year. For more detail on Canada.
Copyright and the use of Biografica
On another copyright angle, the copyright (ownership) of any material you upload or write on the Biografica website in your life story, is always yours. You may also view our Privacy Policy here.
Read more and join our discussion on Facebook or Instagram for more inspiration about writing your life story.
