Copyright Presentation

This presentation contains copyrighted material used under the educational fair use exemption to U.S. Copyright law.

Copyright for Schools, A Practical Guide.

By Carol Simpson

Linworth Publishing, 2001

Copyright

Copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, and sell the matter and form of literary, musical, or artistic work.

Copyright

If you have an idea in your head, it is not protected by copyright, but once you put that idea on paper, tape, or any other type of expression, it is copyright protected. The work DOES NOT have to have a c with a circle symbol to be copyright protected. Works created after Jan. 1, 1978 are copyright protected unless shown otherwise.

The Owner’s Rights…

1. Right to Reproduce (copy)2. Right to prepare derivative works (modify in some

way-change format: book to tape)3. Right to distribute copies by sale, gift, rental,

lease or lending. This also means that once something is sold, the right of distribution no longer rests with the copyright owner- that means I can lend books I purchase for you to read in my library, I can give you an old copy of a book I buy or I can buy a book for you as a gift.

4. Right to perform the work in public- we must have public performance rights to show something to the public

5. Right to display a work in Public-You can display a poster you bought or student artwork on a bulletin board, but you can’t display these things on a web page for the world to see.

6. Right to Digital audio transmission of sound recordings (music on web pages)

Copyright is violated if even one of these six rights is abridged.

The creator of the work owns the above rights, which are property rights, hence the term “intellectual property”. These rights are subject to limitations called “fair use.”

How long are the rights in effect?

After January 1, 1978, works are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.

If two or more authors, it is the life of the longest living author plus 70 years.

If the work is owned by corporation, or anything other than an author, it is 95 years from the date the work is published or 120 years from the date it was created, whichever is shorter.

 

Works published before 1923 are in the public domain. (unless a new edition has been released)

Works published between 1923 and 1978 have varying periods of protection.

  Public domain= no copyright restrictions at

all, you can use it anyway you desire.

Fair use:

Fair use guidelines- grant particular types of users conditional rights to use or reproduce certain copyrighted materials as long as the reproduction or use of the materials meets the defined guidelines:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature, or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

Saying this is for educational use is not enough to do what you want with material.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work.

    Factual information can not be copyrighted but creative works are highly protected.

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.

    This is a judgement call. Use a minimum amount and use guidelines provided on handout.

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market or value of the work.

This concerns the financial impact on the copyright holder. This is the most significant factor. IF copying would deprive an author of a sale, it is not within the exemptions. Courts consider potential damages, not actual damages when weighing this factor.

 

Each instance of copying must consider the following:

1. brevity- certain amount specified in guidelines

2. spontaneity-no time to ask permission and was the teacher’s idea

3. cumulative effect-not substituting purchasing materials

Let’s review:

Congress intends to protect the rights of the author while still allowing legitimate educational and research uses of copyrighted material. They will consider…

What are you doing? What type of work are you dealing with? How much do you want to use? What effect does what you are doing have on

the potential market? $$$$$$

If you copy or display any part of a work under the fair use exemption, you should be able to answer yes to both of the following questions:

1. Is it at the instance and inspiration of the individual teacher? (No one in authority can tell you to copy something.)

2. Is it too late to get permission? The decision to use the work and the moment it needs to be used didn’t give enough time to get proper permission from the copyright owner.

GRAPHICS

When you have permission to copy something, you copy it as it is. The right to change the size or change it into a poster is the right of the copyright holder. There are numerous stories of schools being cited for using blown-up Disney characters to decorate buildings and classrooms. By adapting the characters you deprive the creator of potential sales of that character. Use graphics in the public domain.

VIDEOS

1. presented by instructor or student2. face to face teaching- students and teachers in

the room at the same time in instruction directly related to the curriculum, to the lesson at hand…not one covered last month or that will be covered next month.

3. take place in the classroom or similar place of instruction (library)

4. legally acquired

It does not matter where the video comes from or what it says on the cover (home use only)—You must have public performance rights to show a video for reward or for playtime indoors. Video stores do not sale these rights with movie rentals so if you don’t own the rights you can legally show it only in curricular situations.

Showing Babe because your class is studying farm animals is not a reasonable tie-in unless your local farms have talking animals.

Do not show videos for entertainment unless we have the performance rights.

You can NOT charge money to watch a video at school.

You can NOT show a video after school hours unless it has performance rights.

SOUND

Sound recordings have the same requirements and permissions as other materials. A work may have three copyrights: one for the music, a second for the recording, and a third for the arrangement. To use a recording in a multimedia presentation you must have permission from all three copyright owners. Even if the music is in the public domain, the arrangement of the music may not be. I have information for companies to contact about music copyrights.

TV RECORDINGS

Programs may freely be taped from regular broadcast channels.

  The same teacher may not request the same episode twice. (Even years apart)

A tape can be kept for 45 days. Students can only see it twice within the first ten days, once for instruction and once for reinforcement. During the remaining 35 days, the program may be evaluated by teachers. If a student is absent for the duration of the ten days, they can’t watch the video.

A librarian can only tape a program at the request of a teacher, fill out form, try to give me one day notice or no guarantee it will get done.

  Copies must have copyright information, usually in the credits at the end.

There are no fair use rights for cable channels. Must be based on granted rights.

Cable in the classroom (magazines out in lounge each month) These channels have specific retention restrictions.

MULTIMEDIA

See me if you need details on this type of production. Guidelines depend on how the presentation is going to be used. There are multimedia collections sold for the purpose of making these productions that are copyright cleared.

SOFTWARE

This involves license agreement as well as copyright laws.

You have the right to use the software in a manner described in a license agreement provided with your software.

Teachers should not bring software to school that is used on a computer at home. (Or leave paperwork at school.)

Single-user copies of programs should not be used by multiple computers. Our current situation with Microsoft Works.

Software piracy is punishable as a felony. Original packages and documentation should be available if the software publishing firms visit and ask for verification that legitimate copies of their software had been purchased.

INTERNET

Everything created for the internet is copyright protected whether it has a statement about it or not. The technology exists to view an item on the internet, grab it, edit it, and use it however you want to. Just because the technology exists to reproduce an item electronically, the user does not have the right to do so.

WHAT do we DO?

ASK for Permission

1. Make your request far enough in advance that you can receive an answer before you need it.

2. Be specific in your request, tell exactly what your intentions are.

3. Expect a fee for permission.

If there is no time…

Use the fair use guidelines.

Knowledge is power!

Copyright for Schools, A Practical Guide.

By Carol Simpson

Linworth Publishing, 2001

Please check this book out and read through some of the examples.