Copyright
What is Copyright?
From the U.S. Copyright Office: Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.
What is Copyright Protection?
Copyright protection is for the life of the author plus 70 years and it exists from the time the work is created. It is not necessary to register the work with the Copyright Office in order to secure copyright. Assume that any work created after 1978 is copyrighted, and, therefore, permission to copy should be requested. Fair Use allows some copying for educational purposes and is part of the copyright law, section 107. Copying parts or an entire work cannot be done simply because the purpose is educational. The 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act is intended to update copyright law for electronic environments, and has implications for fair use, library preservation and development of digital libraries. Refer to the links below or see a librarian for more information.
More Information
- U.
S. Copyright Office
A Library of Congress site with copyright basics, registration, legislation, and online searching. - U.
S. Copyright Law
Part of the Library of Congress site. - Copyright
and Fair Use (in education)
From Stanford University, with primary materials, current legislation cases, links. - Fair
Use of Copyrighted Materials
From University of Texas Systems, includes a Copyright Crash Course under "home." - Fair
Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia
Synopsis from North Central ESD, reprinted below with permission.
Copyright Law
The Copyright Act of 1976 became effective in 1978 as Public Law 94-553. It provides that copyright owners have the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform, display, transfer ownership, rent or lend their creations. It also provides that educators may use portions of copyrighted material if they follow these four principles:
- Purpose of Use: The purpose and character of the use is educational in nature.
- Status of Original Material: The copyrighted work has been previously published since the creator of a work intends for it to be viewed by the public.
- Amount of Material: A portion of the work may be used, but not a substantial portion. Substantial constitutes a large amount and/or a central or critical part of the original work.
- Marketability: The marketability of the copyrighted work will not be impaired.
Copyright Guidelines for Educational Multimedia
The Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia of 1997 were drafted by a diverse group of interested parties. The agreed upon interpretation of the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act are currently endorsed by twenty-three associations including the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
They are not legally binding; however, they do define the educational audience and provide the following guidelines:
Definition: Educational multimedia, as it relates to these guidelines, incorporate students' or educators' original material, such as course notes or commentary, together with various copyrighted media formats including but not limited to motion media, music, text material, graphics, illustrations, photographs and digital software which are combined into an integrated presentation.
Giving Credit: Educators and students are reminded to credit the sources and display the copyright ownership information if this is shown on the original source.
Appropriateness of Use: Educators may use their own educational multimedia projects, created for curriculum-based instruction in face-to-face instruction, student-directed self-study, remote instruction, peer conferences, and for their own professional portfolio. Students may perform and display their own multimedia projects in the courses for which they were created and may use them in their own portfolios as examples of their academic work.
Time Frame: Educators may use their multimedia projects for up to two years after the first use in their class.
Amount of Material: This refers to the amount of a copyrighted work that can be used in educational multimedia projects: motion media (up to 10% or 3 minutes); text material (up to 10% or 1,000 words); music (up to 10% but no more than 30 seconds); illustrations/photographs (no more than five images produced in their entirety); numerical data sets (up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less).
Distribution: There may be no more than two use copies made of the educational multimedia project. One may be placed on reserve for remote instruction; a second can be made for back-up.