Ethical Use of Information and Copyright Compliance

MARCH 2013

Overview

This document contains suggestions for ethical and fair

use of information aligned to the

NYSUT Teacher Practice Rubric: 2012 Edition

and Fair Use guidelines.

Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational purposes

only, and may not be relied upon as legal advice.

Please consult an attorney with expertise in copyright law for advice

relating to your specific circumstances and activities.

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NYSUT Rubric Requirements Element VI.1: Teachers uphold professional standards of practice and

policy as related to students’ rights and teachers’ responsibilities.

C: Demonstrates ethical use of information

and information technology

EFFECTIVE: TEACHER CONSISTENTLY COMPLIES WITH AND ADVOCATES FOR

THE ETHICAL USE OF INFORMATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

a

Teacher: a

-Does not copy/paste from the internet a

-Complies with Fair Use requirements a

-Requires citations on student projects a

-Does not accept plagiarized work

HIGHLY EFFECTIVE: TEACHER CONSISTENTLY MODELS ETHICAL USE OF

INFORMATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND ENSURES RESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, CREDITS

SOURCES, AND ADHERES TO SAFE AND LEGAL USE GUIDELINES. a

Teacher does the above, plus: a

-Cites sources on all classroom materials/presentations a

-Seeks permission from the author to use resources whenever possible a

-Purposefully instructs students on how to appropriately credit sources, and the different types of use (quote, paraphrase, image credit)

a

-Instructs students on how to protect their own intellectual property

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The Top 10 Ways to be an Ethical User of Information:

-10- No more movies as rewards (unless your school purchases a performance

license); same goes for popular music in the background of presentations.

-9- Use Creative Commons/Royalty-free/Public Domain resources whenever

possible and cite accordingly.

-8- Familiarize yourself with the doctrine of Fair Use.

-7- Ask permission from the creator whenever possible.

-6- If you’re not sure if it’s OK to use it…check. Work with your librarian.

-5- Know the difference between quote and paraphrase, and how to cite each.

Teach it to your students.

-4- Purposefully instruct students on digital citizenship.

-3- Cite your sources; model ethical use.

-2- Stop copying and pasting from the internet: photos, worksheets, videos, text.

-1- Require students to follow the above rules on every project, all the time.

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AN EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO

Is the item still protected by copyright?

Check the copyright slider: http://librarycopyright.net/resources/digitalslider/

No Yes

How will you be using it?

Criticism/Comment

Parody

Scholarship/Research Entertainment

For Profit

How much are you using?

Is the use

“transformative”?

Is the effect on the market

for this work minimal?

A small portion/

Not the central

part of the work

The whole

thing or the

“heart” of the

work

Did you get permission

from the creator?

No

Yes

*Copyright and fair use guidelines can be tricky —even the Office of

Copyright doesn’t provide a definitive “yes” to issues of fair use.

Hooray! You are free to

use this

resource*.

You may still qualify for

Fair Use. Try the checklist

on the next page or the Fair

Use Evaluator. You may

also want to explore other

copyright-free options.

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Financial Effect:

Favoring Fair Use

• Only one or a few copies are made

• No significant effect on the market

• Copy of original work was lawfully

purchased or acquired

Opposing Fair Use

• Could replace the sale of the copyrighted

work

• Numerous copies made

• You made it accessible on the internet/public

forum without restricted access

• Repeated/long-term use

• It would be affordable to get

permission/purchase copies

Comments:

Name: __________________________________ Grade Level/Department: _

Project: Date:

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Adapted from: Crews, Kenneth D., & Buttler, Dwayne K.

(2008, May 14). Fair use checklist. Retrieved from

http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/files/2009/10/fair

usechecklist.pdf

Purpose:

Favoring Fair Use

• Teaching

• Research/Scholarship

• Criticism/Comment

• News Reporting

• Transformative (repurposes for a new

audience)

• Restricted Access (only for students)

• Parody

Opposing Fair Use

• Entertainment

• Profit/Commercial Activity

Comments:

Nature:

Favoring Fair Use

• Published Work

• Factual/Non-Fiction

• Important to educational objectives:

Explain:

Opposing Fair Use

• Unpublished work

• Highly creative work (art, music, films, plays)

• Fiction

Comments:

Amount:

Favoring Fair Use

• Small portion of the work

• Portion is not “central” or significant

• Amount is appropriate for the educational

purpose

Opposing Fair Use

• Large Portion or the whole work is used

• Portion is central to the work

A chart of generally accepted amounts created by

Kathy Schrock can be found at:

http://kathyschrock.net/pdf/copyright_schrock.pdf

Comments:

ONCE COMPLETED, PRINT OR SAVE A COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS

{A few examples of common copyright compliance and infringement in schools}

So what? {Why should I care? I won’t get caught.}

No

Probably*

Obtaining performance rights to show

movies for non-educational use (see Page 8)

Using royalty-free and Creative

Commons images and music, and

attributing the source as required

Contacting the original creator to obtain

permission before use

Copying an image/video clip/document

for the class to analyze or criticize

Creating a parody or critically

evaluating a copyrighted work

*Copyright and fair use guidelines can be

tricky—even the Office of Copyright doesn’t

provide a definitive “yes” to issues of fair

use.

Bringing in a popular movie (or using

Netflix) to show a movie in the

auditorium during bus dismissal, as a

reward, or during indoor recess

Copying/printing a single copy of a

workbook (print or online) for an entire

class to use, or copying full

pages/paragraphs from other works to

include in a teacher-created textbook

Right clicking and saving links to music

and video files from the internet

Copying images from a Google Image

search to use on a classroom/district

website or in a teacher-created textbook

Using copyrighted music in the

background of videos or presentations

Now what? {OK, I get it. This is important. How can I get started?}

• Invest in a licensing subscription

• Post copyright notices by all building copiers/computer labs

• Make sure the teacher handbook includes information about copyright compliance

• Attribute content and add a “Website Concerns” contact form on your website

• Work with your librarian and the School Library System to educate faculty, staff, and students

about copyright compliance

• A lack of documented lawsuits against schools does not equate to a lack of repercussions:

many districts opt to settle out of court

• More and more content is being hosted and shared digitally

• Digital content = anyone can see it and report it

• It’s good practice and our responsibility as educators to model copyright compliance for students

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Is this legal?

Copyright Links Harvard University Office of the General Council has an exhaustive copyright

guide.

Stanford University Libraries has a number of resources for determining fair

use.

Digital Copyright Slider can be used to determine if a resource is in the public

domain.

Carol Simpson is a guru on copyright in schools. Her site includes PDFs with

copyright guidelines for students and teachers, as well as a database of

copyright incidents.

Creative Commons has many resources that can be used legally, including

course content/materials, images, and music.

Flickr Creative Commons provides user images with varying restrictions, many

free to use and adapt for both profit and non-profit use

Motion Picture Licensing Corporation offers umbrella licensing for Fox Studio

movies.

Movie Licensing USA offers a public performance site license for many major

movie studios (including Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros.,

Sony Pictures, NBC/Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, New Line Cinema,

Lionsgate Films, MGM, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Columbia Pictures,

TriStar Pictures, Focus Features, Miramax, Warner Independent Pictures, Paramount

Classics, Paramount Vantage, Fine Line Features, United Artists and Picturehouse).

U.S. Office of Copyright--Fair Use is a document put out by the U.S.

Government to explain the fair use doctrine.

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Fair Use Evaluators

This tool from ALA’s Office for Information Technology allows users to

input information, make judgment calls about their work, and print off a

copy for their records.

This checklist from Columbia University Libraries breaks out the four fair

use criteria into a comparison of factors “favoring” or “opposing”

fair use.

The Copyright Metro from Baruch College is a fun, interactive guide for

using various media in the classroom legally.

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References

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Created and Compiled by Nicole Waskie-Laura

nwaskiel@btboces.org | http://broometiogasls.wordpress.com

Twitter @nwaskielaura

Crews, Kenneth D., & Buttler, Dwayne K. (2008, May 14). Fair use checklist. Retrieved from http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/files/200 9/10/fairusechecklist.pdf

Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet & Society. (2008, August 5). Fair use. Digital Media Law Project. Retrieved from: http://www.dmlp.org/legal- guide/fair-use

North Carolina State University Provost Office. (n.d.). TEACH Act Toolkit. Retrieved from: http://www.provost.ncsu.edu/copyright/toolkit/

New York State United Teachers. (2012 August). NYSUT’S Teacher Practice Rubric 2012 Edition. Retrieved from: http://www.nysut.org/files/ 2012_SEDapproved_NYSUT_TPR.pdf

Starkman, Neal. (2008, March 1). Do the (Copy)right Thing. THE Journal. Retrieved from: http://thejournal.com/articles/2008/03/01/ do-the-copyright-thing.aspx

United States Copyright Office. (2012 June). Fair use. Retrieved from: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html