Copyright@CSUDH
Marion Smith
msmith@csudh.edu
CSUDH Copyright Agent
CSU Dominguez Hills
February 2011
Copyright@CSUDH topics
Define copyright
Define “fair use”
Define plagiarism
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing
Current topics in the Copyright Office
Copyright issues in the news
Pre-test
You see a terrific editorial on the L.A. Times
website. It’s a perfect resource for the
Political Science 101 class you’re
taking/teaching, so you copy it to your
course paper/website.
This is “fair use”, isn’t it?
What is copyright?
 “To promote the progress of science and
useful arts, by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to
their respective writings & discoveries."
Article I, Section 8, U.S. Constitution (1789)
 The Copyright Act of 1976 is the primary basis of
copyright law in the United States.
 Issues introduced by the Internet are addressed
in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
(DMCA).
What works are protected?
Copyright protects "original works of
authorship" that are "fixed in any tangible
medium of expression" (Section 102), e.g.,
books, photographs, movies, software,
websites, music, sound recordings,
architecture
Not protected:
Facts, slogans, titles
Works of the U.S. [not state] government
So who’s the owner?
The creator, unless it’s a “work made for
hire”: A work specially ordered or
commissioned for a purpose listed in
copyright law, if the parties agree in writing
that it’s a work made for hire.
What are my rights as copyright
owner?
Reproduce
Prepare derivative works
Distribute to the public *
Publicly perform
Publicly display
* This is the issue with file-sharing.
True or false? If it doesn’t have a
copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted
False: Almost anything created privately
and originally after April 1, 1989, is
protected.
Always assume that a work is protected
unless you know otherwise.
On the other hand, including a notice
reminds everyone that your work is
protected. Here’s a sample notice:
“© [dates] by [author/owner]”
What about registration?
Required if you are going to seek a claim
of violation
Register through the Copyright Office,
http://www.copyright.gov/
Basic registration fee: $65 (or $35 if you
file online)
Post test. My posting of the L.A. Times
editorial [slide 3] was fair use.
Probably false: Be very careful about fair
use. It’s a complicated doctrine that was
dramatically altered following the advent of
the Internet.
What exactly is “fair use”?
Under the fair use doctrine of 1976, you
can use limited portions of a work for
purposes such as commentary, criticism,
news reporting, and scholarly reports.
There are no specific rules about the
number of words, the number of musical
notes, or the percentage of a work.
But please note: Fair use is a legal
defense, not a right.
The four factors of fair use
1. The purpose and character of your use (called
the “Transformative Factor”);
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion
taken; and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market.
The Technology, Education and Copyright
Harmonization (TEACH) Act of 2002
Copyright protected materials can be used
in distance education—on websites and
with other digital means—without
permission from the copyright owner and
without payment of royalties
For accredited, non-profit U.S. educational
institutions
Required: instructor oversight
The instructor is ultimately responsible for
their use of copyrighted works. The
materials must serve educational pursuits
and are not to be used as entertainment or
for any other purpose.
CSUDH Library’s eReserves
The University Library established
eReserves in the Fall 2010 semester.
Strict guidelines are posted on the library’s
website,
http://library.csudh.edu/services/reserves/
ereserves/policies.shtml.
What about plagiarism?
Copyright
There can be a copyright infringement even if
the source is properly acknowledged.
Is addressed in federal statutes and case law.
Plagiarism
May be grounds for federal legal action
because of the copyright infringement.
In an academic environment, a violator can also
be subject to academic discipline.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing
A warning from the CSUDH Intelligence
Community Center of Academic
Excellence: “Illegal music downloads are
viewed in the same manner as illegal drug
use. Countless students have been denied
employment and/or security clearances
because of the illegal music stored on their
iPods.”
Current Topics in the Copyright
Office
Anti-Circumvention – Section 1201
The “jailbreak” ruling
The Google Book Settlement
Orphan Works – Section 108
The “jailbreak” ruling
U.S. Copyright Office ruled on anticircumvention in July 2010; “jailbreaking”
was the piece of the ruling that made the
news.
Jailbreaking an iPhone or other mobile
device will no longer violate federal
copyright law.
Anti-Circumvention – Section 1201;
legal circumvention now also includes:
1. Short clips from DVDs where the circumvention
is accomplished solely for incorporation of short
portions of motion pictures into new works for
the purpose of criticism or comment to meet the
goals of fair use for:
Educational uses by college and university
professors and by college and university film
and media studies students;
Documentary filmmaking;
Noncommercial videos.
More Legal Circumvention
2. The jailbreak ruling.
3. Computer programs that enable used
wireless telephone handsets to connect to
a wireless telecommunications network
with the permission of the network owner.
More Legal Circumvention
 4. Technological protection methods on
computer-based video games, when
circumvention is accomplished solely for the
purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or
correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities.
 5. Computer programs protected by dongles that
prevent access due to malfunction or damage
and which are obsolete; and
More Legal Circumvention
6. Literary works distributed in ebook format
when all existing ebook editions of the
work contain access controls that prevent
the enabling either of the book’s readaloud function or of screen readers that
render the text into a specialized format.
Google Book Settlement
The Copyright Office is unhappy about the
Google Book Settlement. See “Copyright
Office No Fan of Google Settlement,”
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/10/cop
yright-office-no-fan-of-google-bookssettlement/?blog_id=100&post_id=6536,
posted September 10, 2009.
Orphan Works – Section 108
Orphan works probably comprise the
majority of the record of 20th century
culture.
An orphan work is still presumably
under copyright, but the copyright
owner cannot be found.
The Copyright Office recommendation…
That any use of an orphan work include
attribution if at all possible; this reminds
the user that the copyright owner might
exist.
Should the use of the work be challenged,
the user must prove that a reasonable
search was performed—and stop using
the work immediately (i.e., take it off a
server).
In the news…
China and U.S. software
CSU Sacramento’s Ryan
Stevens NoteUtopia.com website
Shepard Fairey and the HOPE poster
Online Resources
The Copyright Office,
http://www.copyright.gov/
“The TEACH Act Finally Becomes Law,”
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualpr
operty/teachact.htm
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC),
http://www.copyright.com
CSU and CSUDH Resources
CSU Executive Order 999 - Illegal
Electronic File Sharing and Protection of
Electronic Copyrighted Material,
http://www.calstate.edu/EO/EO-999.html
CSUDH Copyright Website,
http://www.csudh.edu/copyright/
CSUDH Library Reserves and eReserves
Portal,
http://library.csudh.edu/services/reserves/