UNeed2Know: Ethical Use & Digital Citizenship

Using digital information and media including images, music and video, comes with responsibility. In the digital environment, some information and media is freely shared and available for anyone to use, borrow, manipulate or enhance; however, much is protected by copyright. It the your responsibility to determine what copyright restrictions apply to the information or media you wish to use. In addition, when using digital (as well as print) resources for research, proper citation of resources is required.

The Basics
Intellectual Property:
Intangible rights protecting the products of human intelligence and creation, such as copyrightable works, patented inventions, trademarks, and trade secrets. Although largely governed by federal law, state law also governs some aspects of intellectual property. Intellectual property describes a wide variety of property created by musicians, authors, artists, and inventors. The law of intellectual property typically encompasses the areas of copyright, patents, and trademark law. It is intended largely to encourage the development of art, science, and information by granting certain property rights to all artists, which include inventors in the arts and the sciences. These rights allow artists to protect themselves from infringement, or the unauthorized use and misuse of their creations. Trademarks and service marks protect distinguishing features (such as names or package designs) that are associated with particular products or services and that indicate commercial source.
From the Free Dictionary: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Intellectual+Property
Copyright:
Copyright refers to laws that regulate the use of the work of a creator, such as an artist or author. This includes copying, distributing, altering and displaying creative, literary and other types of work. Unless otherwise stated in a contract, the author or creator of a work retains the copyright. For a copyright to apply to a work, it must be an original idea that is put to use. The idea alone cannot be protected by copyright. It is the physical use of that idea, such as an illustration or a written novel, that is covered under copyright law.
From About.com: http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/legalglossary/g/copyright.htm

Additional Information & Resources