Intellectual Property in Regards to Copyright Laws

Those who have published works,  which includes their websites, do have protection against others using their work(s).   According to Dratler (1994:1-2), in “Licensing of Intellectual Property”, he states this is defined as “intangible personal property in creations of the mind”, and that intellectual property rights are legal rights to precisely defined kinds of knowledge, which included published works. 

For example, John Sabol created the “ghost excavation methodology (“creations of the mind”) and published his ideas in 15 books, numerous articles, and on www.ghostexcavation.com ( a defined kind of knowledge that is published).  In particular, copyright protects the PHYSICAL EXPRESSION of ideas, and is established by the author’s fixing the work in a material form.  Therefore, John’s books and those of other author’s who have published similar works, along with his appearances on TV used this methodology in investigations (expression of ideas in a material form).  Finally, Brown (1998:196), in his article in “Current Anthropology”, states the following: “The principal goal of intellectual property laws….is to see that information enters the public domain in a timely fashion while allowing creators…to derive reasonable financial and social benefits from their work”.

To use other people’s published works for your own personal and financial gain without written consent from the author or citing the author, falls under copyright infringement and intellectual property laws and is punishable.