Legal Issues for Bloggers

Business of Travel Blogging
A lawyer/travel blogger will take you through issues involving U.S. copyright law, specifically the definitions and differences between copyright and trademark, the “Fair Use” doctrine, the “Creative Commons” attribution, and the appropriate use of linking to and quoting other articles and/or written material, as well as the use of video and music in video productions. The discussion will include the use of photographs, including what photos can be used, which should be used, how to properly attribute their ownership under each category, and how someone can protect their own images. And, of course, we’ll talk about the FTC guidelines concerning endorsements and how it relates to bloggers, as well as recent rulings in connection with the FTC’s update in 2009.

Takeaways
1. An understanding of “Fair Use,” and how a blogger can best utilize the tenants of fair use in general when deciding how to use material in their site, including text, photography, music and video.
2. Best practices for bloggers to follow in light of recent case law, administrative rulings, and internal guidelines of sites (Google, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook), and how they can manage their sites to comply both in the present as well as is the future.
3. How to comply with the FTC guidelines with regard to endorsements.