Copyright in Education
Items used in this presentation are subject to fair use restrictions and are not available for copying
US Teachers are now required by the
1998 copyright law to teach students
about copyright laws and guidelines and
to insure students give proper credit for
what they use in their papers and
multimedia presentations.
Research Papers
Digital Art
Blogs
Animation
Podcasts
Web Pages
Paintings
Wiki’s
PowerPoint
Video
‘Mashups’
Common Misconceptions
Clarified
• All ‘fixed medium’ material is automatically protected by U.S.
copyright law, whether the item is labelled copyrighted or not.
• Digital or electronic content are subject to the same protections
under the Copyright Act as non-digital/analog works.
• Fair use is more of a ‘legal defence’ than an exception to
copyright compliance.
Fair Use
• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such
use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational
purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work.
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation
to the copyright protected work as a whole.
• The effect of the use on the potential market for or value of
the copyright protected work.
Some Fair Use Guidelines...
• Students and teachers can use sections of protected works in
their academic projects, with citation.
• Students & Teachers can retain a copy in their personal portfolio
• Front page should state that it has been prepared under fair use
exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and is restricted from further
use.
• Students and teachers don’t need permission if use falls within
guidelines, but best to ask just in case.
• Repeated, planned use may not be ‘Fair Use’, or if it is to avoid
purchase
Some Fair Use Guidelines cont...
• Must display the copyright notice and information if shown in the
original source.
• No more than 2 copies of the original may be made
• Educators can claim fair use only:
• For face-to-face curriculum-based instruction
• ‘How to’ multimedia demonstrations
• Presented at conferences
• For password protected remote
• Kept for only 2 years
• Fair use ends if control lost (eg online)
International copyright?
• No international copyright law, but most major countries are signatories
of the Berne Convention
• Berne Convention requires its members to recognise the copyright of
authors from other signatory countries the same way as it recognises the
copyright of its own nationals.
• Also required member states to provide strong minimum standards for
copyright law.
• Rule of the shorter term – cant be covered longer overseas than at home
• Rules may have changed when countries signed eg US used to need to
apply for copyright, until they signed in 1988, so works before then are not
automatically protected.
What to do?
• Ask permission Permission template
• Use public domain or creative commons
material. Multimedia Resources.
• Attribute everything. Citation Maker
Public Domain
The public domain comprises all those works that are either no longer
protected by copyright or never were
• Work created by employees of the federal government as a part of their job.
Remember to credit your sources, even for government materials.
• All works first published in the United States prior to 1923 .
• Works published between 1923 and 1963 on which copyright registrations
were not renewed.
• Materials created since 1989, other than those created by the U.S. federal
government, are presumptively protected by copyright.
• Works whose copyrights have lapsed due to the passage of time
• Works created prior to March 1989 that failed to include a proper notice of
copyright
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that develops, supports, and stewards legal and
technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation. You can share your
work using a creative commons license on Flickr, Youtube etc. As well as Creative Commons sites.
Attribution: Lets others use your work, as long as they credit you. The most accommodating license.
Attribution-Share Alike: Lets others use your work, as long as they credit you and license their new
creations under the same terms.
Attribution-NoDerivs: Allows for use, as long as it is unchanged/whole, with credit.
Attribution-NonCommercial: Lets others use your work for non commercial purposes. Must be credited,
but doesn’t have to ‘share alike’.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike : Lets others use your work for non commercial purposes. Must
be credited, and licensed ‘share alike’.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs : Allows for non commercial use only, as long as it is
unchanged/whole, with credit .
Resources to Help Kids Understand Copyright
Taking the
Mystery Out of
Copyright
The Copyright
Challenge Quiz
Bound by Law - Comic
Copyright with Cyberbee
Resources Sited
Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia - http://www.adec.edu/admin/papers/fair10-17.html
Copyrights by Staff of the Library Resource Centre of Naperville Central High School
http://www.ncusd203.org/central/html/where/lrc/copyrights.html
Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/#
Copyright and Fair Use in the UMUC Online or Face-to-Face Classroom
University of Maryland http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml
Copyright and Primary Sources Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/copyright.html
Copyright in an Electronic Environment North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/copyright1.html
International Copyright Law – The Berne Convention The UK Copyright Service
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p08_berne_convention
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/