Copyright Law

Unless your project would qualify as "fair use" legally you cannot use any part of a copyrighted work without permission.

Despite the various "urban myths" (10%, 300 words, etc) floating around there is no preset amount of a video that you can "borrow" without seeking the proper permission from the rights holder.

Google gives the copyright date as the current year, because that's the date the page rendered.

Yes, BUT there needs to be a better distinction between accidental, one-time infringements, and willful, systematic infringement. For example, a movie studio angry about a downloaded film should concentrate their legal efforts on the uploaders and distributors, rather than the comparatively small-potatoes individuals. Yes, it was wrong for little Johnny to watch that movie online for free rather than paying $12 to see it in the theater, but that represents a loss of $12 from the revenue stream of the rightsholder if little Johnny would actually have gone at all; whereas the uploader may represent a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In the short term, copyright encourages creators to create, by giving them the opportunity to derive income from their works.

In the long term, copyright enriches the public domain, as protection on these works expire.

Everything that is written down or created is copyrighted. It does not matter what media is used to display it. Everything on the internet is copyrighted, whether the poster reserves the rights or decides to share them openly.

Yes; if you write a book and I illustrate it, we can be co-owners of the copyright.

No. The book was published in the UK in 1945, meaning that its copyright duration is governed by the laws of that country, i.e., 70 years after death of the author.

The film version has its own copyright with its own duration.

Yes, copyright infringement can be a civil or (in the USA) a criminal offense.

17 USC § 501 Civil infringement

17 USC § 506 Criminal infringement, punished under 18 USC § 2319 Criminal Code.

There are a few other sections of Title 17 providing for specific criminal sanctions, including fines.

Duplicating any copyright-protected material without permission is a violation of federal law; in extreme cases, criminal prosecution is available, but most infringement cases are handled in civil court or even settled before they reach court at all.

Like any other law, copyright laws do not "prevent" anything. However, they are designed to give a copyright owner the power to punish those who violate the law.

Copyright laws restrict who can reproduce, publish, distribute, modify, publicly perform, publicly display or digitally transmit various types of copyrighted works, with numerous exceptions. Not all works are copyrighted and copyrights eventually expire.

The 1952 movie is protected by copyright, and will likely be protected through 2047.

If someone sues you, you will need to hire an attorney. An attorney can represent you in a court and make sure your best interests are served.

No. But you may need to be quite careful about whether a particular piece of software is actually public domain, i.e., its copyright has expired or it never had any copyright (if published prior to 1989, or a work of the US government).

No. There is a provision in the "fair use" exception regarding educational use of a portion of copyrighted materials but it does not remove the responsibility for educational institutions to adhere to copyright law.

It depends on the use. One example that has been established by case law to be "fair use" is a car repair shop making a print ad which includes the logos of the cars they specialize in.

The biggest difference between a use that would require permission and one that might not is whether it is perfectly clear that you are not representing the company whose logo you are using. If your use makes it appear that the material is coming from Saab, say, you would absolutely need permission.

Given current copyright law, it's merely a courtesy; notification is not required for protection.

I'm not an attorney. Copyright is a complex branch of law. For example, a classic song may be in the public domain. However, that does not mean that a newly released recording by an artist is up for grabs and free to anyone. The recording itself is owned by the artist and producers. Something similar happens with the bible and other kinds of works. The material itself is in the public domain. But think about the people involved in producing the NIV version of scripture. [Or the KJV, or NASV, Jerusalem or any number of published versions] There were many scholars and experts in Hebrew, Greek, Chaldee, Aramaic and other languages, to say nothing of English specialists and theologians. Zondervan is the [NIV] publisher handling all the countless technicalities of setting type, printing binding and marketing, etc. You can't take material prepared by the NIV transation team and publishers and treat it as public domain, even if the biblical material itself is. You can relate any and every story in your own words, use any theme or character and include as much or as little biblical information as you want, and no person will have a problem with that. But, start distributing NIV material or material from the KJV or other published versions, or worse selling it, and you will be in trouble. When you see it this way, it really is reasonable. Anyone should have the right to protect one's own work for reasonable lengths of time.

Copying, altering, distributing, or performing/displaying a work without permission of the rightsholder is an infringement of copyright law. In the US, infringement is punishable by fines up to $30,000.

There is no age restriction for copyrights. In fact, copyright exists upon creation of a work; the registration process is to make a researchable public record, and secure copyright protection for a work. See the link below for more information.

The question is rather broad, so here is a broad answer: The same as it protects any original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression (e.g., a photo, a sculpture, a novel, a song recording on a compact disc). Note that individual components of a multimedia work may be entitled to copyright protection (e.g., code or images) and the entire work may qualify for copyright protection (e.g., a motion picture or an audiovisual work).

Torrenting a TV show, arranging a song for a jazz band, or plagiarizing a text.

Trademark is a better protector of corporate identity, by protecting company names, logos, and slogans.