Copyright infringement is in the news a lot lately. It’s hard to miss stories about kids being carted off to jail or seriously fined for downloading music or movies off the Internet. I’ve even heard about a lady who was fined for tens of thousands of dollars because of the events of copyright infringement -- her grandson downloading music, and she couldn’t prove it wasn’t her.

The events of copyright infringement are complicated -- and not easy to define. Surfing the Internet has its advantages and disadvantages, thats for sure. We are able to find useful information quickly, but how close are we pertaining to copyright laws? Do we even know what is and what is not acceptable? A couple of the more pertinent questions have been asked below:

QUESTION: If you hear a great new band, and then download a song from MySpace, is that legal or not?

ANSWER: The events of copyright infringement are not only limited by Kazaa, Morpheus, or some other file sharing peer to peer (P2P) service. If you download a song -- no matter if youre on a website or a MySpace page -- and it isnt coming from the artist themselves, you may want to think about downloading it. Chances are, if its not coming from them, you cant have it -- unless it is under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons gives the exact ways in which you can use the license -- and many times those are completely free and legal to download, so make sure you check if its under a CC License.

QUESTION: If Im writing a paper, or article, and I want to quote another website, can I?

ANSWER: First of all, did you know the minute you write or create something, you hold the copyright to it? ESPECIALLY if youre writing it online -- its very easy to track things on the Internet. So, if youre writing a blog, all the things youve written (no matter good or bad) are recorded, thanks to Archive.org, which lets you review last versions of your web pages.

Sometimes, we can use someone elses work in our own, and think were small and anonymous. That no one will notice by the time you get it down -- youre just borrowing it. Before you begin quoting anyones website -- from CNN to your local neighborhood hardware store -- you need to ask the person who holds the copyright if you can. Usually, theyll let you if you attribute to them. Depending who you talk to, youll either have to pay royalties or license rights to republish. If you dont ask before you quote, youre beginning the events of copyright infringement and you are opening yourself up for a lawsuit.

The events of copyright infringement can begin at any time, beginning with normal everyday activities. Its just as easy to infringe on as it is to be infringed upon. Make sure you check your copyright using CopyScape or some other service. You can check your work against other works on the Internet, and make sure that youre not infringing someone or vice versa. In this day its easy to protect yourself from getting infringed upon, and the events of copyright infringement are easy to track. Its easy for innocent people to get caught in copyright infringement, like children they didnt know what they could and couldnt do. Make sure, in all you do, that youre striving to do the best you can, and youll be certain not to fall victim to your own infringing demons.