"Dangerous myths about copyright law …
MYTH: If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted.
FALSE. In the USA, almost everything created after April 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not. The default you should assume for other people’s works is that they are copyrighted and may not be copied unless you know otherwise.
MYTH: It is okay to copy as long as you give proper credit to the author/artist.
FALSE. If you copy an original writing, graphic, song, or other work without permission, you are guilty of copyright infringement. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] restricts access to or distribution of copyrighted material. Violators may be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
MYTH: I goofed and used someone’s graphic on my web page without realizing that it is copyrighted, but I cannot be sued as long as it was an honest mistake.
FALSE. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Copyright law does not care about your “intent”, only that you have infringed work of another.
MYTH: It is okay to use less than 10% of someone’s work.
FALSE. Although it may be permissible to use limited portions of a work for limited purposes, there is no rule permitting a certain percentage of the work to be reproduced, distributed, performed or translated."
