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But how do you know when copyright ownership belongs to you and when it belongs to others? In general, the following rules resolve the problem:

1. If you produced the work yourself, then you are the natural author and own the copyright yourself.
2. If you as an employee created the work in the scope of employment, your employer owns the copyright and is in fact considered the author.

The US Copyright Law provides a more elaborate list of rules governing the ownership of copyright. Therefore, when examining copyright ownership, the following issues should always be considered [Hiaring, Anne "Content and Control." IP Magazine. Autumn 1995 (Jul. 1999)]:

1. Who is the natural author? Who produced the work?
2. Is the creation a work for his/her employee?
3. Is the creation a work for him/her as a specially commissioned work?
4. Is the person a joint author of the work?
5. Has the person obtained a valid license to use the copyrighted work?
6. Are the rights that the person has obtained recognizable and enforceable under the current law?

In brief, it is risky to use anybody else's work without explicit permission from the owner of the work's copyright. Copyright infringement constitutes the reproduction of a work without such express permission. It is important to note, however, that the reproduced work need not be identical to the original work. If the copied work is substantially similar to the original, it is considered to have infringed upon the copyright of the original. [Kuester, Jeffrey and Nieves, Peter "Hyperlinks, Frames and Meta-Tags: An Intellectual Property Analysis" Journal of Law and Technology 243. 1998 (Jul. 1999)]

So far, then, rulings provided by the courts have not fully elucidated the relationship between copyright laws and computers. That is, there exists as of yet no explicit guideline which to follow in cases involving these two areas. Computer users must wait for better decisions. But with the development of a new medium such as the World Wide Web, it is not surprising that a new definition for copyright must be developed. New questions regarding intellectual property have arisen, and a golden balance between the positive and detrimental effects of this technology must be found. In the meantime, however, responsible users such as you can minimize the chances of lawsuit by always taking care. Remember: never use anybody else's work without prior permission!

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