COPYRIGHT AND MATH TEACHING

Jerry Tuttle, FCAS, CPCU

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May I play an audio clip in class?

.

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Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison#mediaviewer/File:Roy_Orbison_(1965).jpg

May I show this photo in class?

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Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton (1689 portrait)

May I copy and distribute this graph in

class?

Social Security. CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/cpiw_graph.html

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May I copy and distribute this journal

article in class?

Mathematics Teacher. September, 1990

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May I copy and distribute pages of a

book in class?.

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Outline

• Faulty copyright axioms.• Who owns the copyright?• Copyright owner’s exclusive

rights.• What is not subject to copyright?• Classroom & online uses.• Fair use; & so-called guidelines.• Websites & blogs.• Conclusion; References.

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Faulty Axioms

• You didn’t get caught, so it’s legal.• It’s on the Internet, so OK to copy.• It doesn’t say “Copyrighted”, so

OK to copy.• Cite the source, so OK to copy.• A teacher automatically has “fair

use”.• Law is absolute & unambiguous.

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Who owns the copyright?

• Creator when work is tangibly fixed.• No action required like ©.• Owner has 5 exclusive rights.• Rights last lifetime, + 70 years.• Copyright for digital and non-digital

work.• Physical ownership is not copyright.

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Copyright owner’s exclusive rights

• Make copies.• Make derivative works.• Distribute copies.• Perform publicly.• Display publicly.

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Not subject to copyright?

• Facts and ideas. • Public domain: Fed Govt; copyright

expired. 

Or, just get permission• Ask for permission.• Owner may grant or license

permission.

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Creative Commons License

• Owner gives permission• Search creativecommons.org

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Classroom use – §110 (1)

• May perform or display copyrighted work. 

• Those are 2 of 5 exclusive rights. • Must have legal copy.  

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Online education §110 (2)

• Perform or display comparable to live classroom.

• Those are 2 of the 5 exclusive rights. • Limit to currently enrolled students. • Tech. to prevent students from

retaining.  • Must have legal copy.  

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Fair use §107

• Applies to all 5 exclusive rights.

• Purpose • Nature• Amount • Effect

• Assess all 4 factors.

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More on fair use

• Commercial use usually not fair use, unless transformative.

• Small amount used likely fair.• Economic harm likely not fair. • Multiple copies for teaching is not

infringement, per §107 !

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May I copy and distribute

this in class?

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Data: www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml

Is #16 an outlier?

May I copy and distribute

this in class?

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Data: www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtmlPhotos: coed.com/2011/03-25/barry-bonds-before-and-after-steroids-14-pictures

Is #16 explainable?

So-called guidelines

• Publishers w vested interests produce guidelines.

• Charts, 10% rule, “brevity”, “spontaneity”.

• This is not the law.• Guidelines are not ceilings. Sufficient,

but not necessary?• One expert says, “The 10% rule is

fiction.”

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May I copy old AP exams and assign as homework?

• College Board’s site says: “For in-classroom use only ... do not assign them as take-home”

• But what about Fair Use?

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May I copy & distribute textbook pages?

• “No part of this publication may be reproduced … without prior permission of the publisher.”

• But what about Fair Use?

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Websites, blogs, etc.

• Link instead of copying Internet material.• Posting on website or blog is copying.• Perform fair use analysis.• Attribution not required. Couldn’t hurt • Companies do troll Internet for violations.

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Conclusions

• Most unauthorized use never discovered.• Large-scale copying is infringment.• Using your own work is always OK.• Why are we so risk-averse?• Have school statement reviewed by

lawyers.• Have someone available for copyright

questions.

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References• Copyright Clearance Center.

http://www.copyright.com/content/cc3/en/toolbar/education/resources/copyright_basics.html • Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org • Digital Media Law. Linking to copyrighted materials. http://

www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/linking-copyrighted-materials

• Hobbs, R. (2010). Copyright Clarity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. • Stanford University Libraries. Copyright & Fair Use.

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/index.html • United States Copyright Office. Copyright law of the United States. Title17 of the U.S. Code. http://

www.copyright.gov/title17

• University of Texas. Copyright Crash Course. http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/#

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