PressHarbor Support Center

How can I learn more about copyright law?

PressHarbor Support — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:12:29 +0000

[originally published on our BlogHarbor service]

Blogging is a powerful tool, and with that power comes responsibility. One of the most important considerations with respect to responsible blogging is the issue of copyright law. All bloggers should have a basic understanding of copyright law as it applies to publishing on the web, and how that law both guides the style and content which you can publish on a weblog but also protects your content from unauthorized use.

This page will provide some references on the topic of copyright law as it relates to blogging; we hope all BlogHarbor bloggers will take the time to review these articles to gain a deeper understanding of copyright law.

Copyright basics

A great place to start learning about copyright is at A brief intro to copyright by Brad Templeton. In this article, Brad defines copyright law and notes some introductory concepts as to what copyright law allows, what it prohibits, and what it protects.

Another article we recommend is 4 Basic Questions About Copyright and Weblogs, which answers these questions:

What Is Copyright?
Does copyright laws hold on the web and are they applicable to bloggers?
What is copyright infringement?
What types of copyright infringements do you often see bloggers commit?

Learning more about copyright

Another article from About Weblogs called 14 Copyright Tips For Bloggers provides tips for bloggers who wish to avoid copyright infringement problems, as well as tips for those whose copyrights are being infringed upon. A few of the tips they provide to bloggers looking to avoid copyright problems are:

Never copy the whole of anyone else’s material
Don’t just copy someone else’s stuff
Try to be proportionate
Acknowledge your sources if you do copy, and link to them

One of the most famous articles about copyright myths is 10 Big Myths about copyright explained, again by Brad Templeton. This article was originally penned in 1994 and was most recently revised in October 2004. Brad notes the 10 big myths are:

If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted.
If I don’t charge for it, it’s not a violation.
If it’s posted to Usenet it’s in the public domain.
My posting was just fair use!
If you don’t defend your copyright you lose it.
If I make up my own stories, but base them on another work, my new work belongs to me.
They can’t get me, defendants in court have powerful rights!
Oh, so copyright violation isn’t a crime or anything?
It doesn’t hurt anybody — in fact it’s free advertising.
They e-mailed me a copy, so I can post it.

There’s even an 11th myth, but we won’t spoil that for you. Be sure to read Brad’s 10 Big Myths about copyright article reviewing these myths and provides insight into what’s really true about copyright law.

Summary

Understanding copyright law is a necessity for all bloggers and the articles we link to in this document will provide you with the detailed information you need to know about copyright. Respecting copyright guarantees that your blog does not infringe on the rights of others, and knowing the law can help ensure that your rights are protected.

WordPress 3.0.1 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:59:17 +0000

We’ve upgraded all PressHarbor sites to WordPress 3.0.1.

The 3.0.1 release announcement is here and the Codex page is here.

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

WordPress 3.0 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:17:46 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 3.0, which was released June 17, 2010. For more information about WordPress 3.0, please see the original WordPress 3.0 release announcement.

As is our custom, we link to Technosailor’s rundown of the new features in this release: 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 3.0.

For a visual tour of WordPress 3.0, please watch the following video:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your continued support of our PressHarbor service!

WordPress 2.9.1 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:31:33 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.9.1, which was released January 4, 2010. For more information about WordPress 2.9, please see the original WordPress 2.9 release announcement as well as the 2.9.1 announcement.

As always, we link to Technosailor’s rundown of the new features in this release: 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.9.

For a visual tour of WordPress 2.9, please watch the following video:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your continued support of our PressHarbor service!

WordPress 2.8 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:43:05 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.8, which was released June 11, 2009. For more information about WordPress 2.8, please see the release announcement.

Once again, we link to Technosailor’s rundown of the new features in this release: 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.8.

For a visual tour of WordPress 2.8, please watch the following video:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your continued support of our PressHarbor service!

WordPress 2.7 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:11:26 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.7, which was released December 11, 2008. For more information about WordPress 2.7, please see the release announcement.

Once again, Aaron Brazell has posted a great post about the great new features in this release: 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.7.

For a visual tour of the WordPress 2.7, please watch the following video:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your support of our PressHarbor service!

WordPress 2.6 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:27:09 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.6, which was released today. For more information about WordPress 2.6, please see the release announcement.

Aaron Brazell has posted a great post titled 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.6, it’s worth a read to learn about the great new features in this release.

For a visual tour of the new release, please watch the following video:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this latest upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your support of our PressHarbor Service!

How do I cancel my PressHarbor blog hosting account?

PressHarbor Support — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:47:54 +0000

To cancel a PressHarbor account, you can do so by logging into your PressHarbor account from the Login link on our home page. Then click the My Account link at the top right. In the Account Information box, look for the “Web hosting plans in your account” line and click View.

For any account you want to cancel, please click the Magnifying Glass icon and on the following page, click the [Click to cancel this hosting package] link.

WordPress 2.5 Upgrade Complete

PressHarbor Support — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:46:06 +0000

All PressHarbor weblogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.5. To be more precise, your blogs have been upgraded to a pre-release version of WordPress 2.5.2, so our current version is somewhat more recent than the most recently released official version, which was WordPress 2.5.1, a bug-fix release to the major 2.5 upgrade.

For more information about these updates, please see the release announcements:

WordPress 2.5.x introduces some major changes from previous versions. Most notably, the control panel has been completely redesigned. Some links which may help you transition to the new version:

We hope you enjoy blogging with this fantastic upgrade to WordPress. If you experience any issues that you suspect are related to this upgrade, please submit a support ticket.

Thank you for your support of our PressHarbor Service!

WordPress 2.5 Upgrade Plans

PressHarbor Support — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:10:51 +0000

WordPress recently issued a major upgrade. We ask that you do nothing at this time (despite what the control panel may be telling you!), we will upgrade all PressHarbor sites simultaneously when our compatibility testing is complete and we are confident that any major bugs with the newest WordPress have been squashed. We do not have any estimate at this time as to when we will make the upgrade but will keep you informed.