As I work through my on-line course I am being led to investigate copyright and copyright infringement. We have been asked to find examples of copyright infringement lawsuits and to share them with each other. The concept of copyright is not foreign to me - it seems to me that if you made it then you should get credit for it! But that is my small world thinking perhaps and the on-line world is fraught with peril.

I have found a report of a company that used a picture of Omaha Nebraska and ended up with a lawsuit for $8000 for posting the picture without permission. (find the article here) The company eventually settled with a payment of only $3000 but what a costly mistake. This could be enough to put a small emerging company out of business.

We have also seen how a copyright which was used correctly then expired and the resulting "art" had to be removed from the internet. Check out the report from the Ottawa Citizen as they discuss Chris Hadfield's adventure into copyright space.

Let me know if you have any similar stories to share!