Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images in order to create an illusion of movement. The most common method of presenting animation is in a motion picture or some type of video program. Not so long ago, if you went on the internet and entered "free animation" as your search, there may have been little to choose from, if anything at all. Today, however, you will see pages and pages of results.
Do free animations mean that no one gets credited with the work or that the person and/or company that developed it have agreed to basically give it away? Works granted as a copyright after January 1, 1978 are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death. What about these gif animations, cartoon animations, 2D animations and 3D animations that are found on the internet? Are they really free?
If you come across a web site that claims to have royalty free animation files for download, then you may want to check into it further. It is very tempting when surfing the web to see something that you like and just automatically download it or right-click and "save as."
Or you may see something interesting and decide to post it on your site or blog. However, don't ignore the part about linking any of the free computer animations back to them, to give them credit.
As soon as you write a story, draw a character, create any type of graphics computer animation, save a document using Word or record a song, you own copyright to it and are protected by law. What about computer animations or any other type of work that you have created for an employer or client? In that particular case, it is known as work for hire and at times you can claim the right to include the works for display in your portfolio, although you should check to see if they would have any specific objections to allowing that.
Everyone wants their website to stand out so that it attracts visitors, resulting, hopefully, in sales. Many times, if an individual is lacking the skills to create something new and original, then they will use what they assume is free animation from another web site. This type of legal issue has been around since the first public sites starting appearing.
The creators of these graphics and cool animations own them and their permission to use them on your site is needed. Even if someone sees it on your site they will still need permission from the owner before posting it on their own site.
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