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HOW NOT TO GET SUED!WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COPYRIGHT IN SCHOOLS

Jennifer Burke, ITEC 7445

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WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

The Copyright Act became effective in 1978 as Public Law 94-553 and was last amended in 2010.

One purpose of copyright is to encourage creators to create original works.

Copyright means legal ownership. The person who created the original COPY has the RIGHT not to share if he doesn’t want to!

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FAIR USE AND TEACHERS

The law allows educators (and students creating projects) may use parts of copyrighted material with restrictions:

Only for educational use

Motion media (video) – 10% or 3 minutes

Text material – 10% or 100 words

Music – 10% or 30 seconds

Illustrations and photographs – up to 5 images

from 1 artist or photographer, no more than

10% of all his work.

And, you MUST cite your source!

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Mr. Bohannon wants to show a Monsters, Inc. DVD he rented from RedBox to the entire 4th grade one afternoon. If he doesn’t charge admission, can he show the DVD?

http://bestanimations.com/Fantasy/Monsters/Monsters5.html

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WHAT YOU CAN’T DO

No, sorry. After-school programs are not covered under the curriculum stipulation of the video guidelines; therefore, it is not acceptable to show a video under these circumstances unless a performance rights contract has been purchased. 

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

You can show videos to students if your school owns a copy that is licensed for school use.

You can also show a rented video to your class, as long as the video is legally obtained and relates directly to the part of the curriculum being studied at the time.

Check with your media specialist and see what’s available

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PHOTO USE

Lexi, Mikayla and Esther want to use some photos of their favorite boy band, One Direction, in their electronic scrapbook. Is that OK?

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WHAT YOU CAN’T DO

• Maybe. Fair Use law relaxes restrictions about acceptable use of copyrighted material in student work.

• Be careful about using material downloaded from the Internet. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean that you can copy and paste without paying!

• Students should learn to ask for permission from the copyright holder. Visit Copyright Kids for sample letters : http://www.copyrightkids.org/permissframes.htm

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Try these websites for copyright-free

photos and clip art:

Morgue File http://www.morguefile.com/ StockVault http://www.stockvault.net/ Pics4Learning http://pics.tech4learning.com/ Classroom Clipart http://classroomclipart.com/ Search for photos which have a Creative Commons license.

It’s always a good idea to give credit to the photographer: Desandies, Manyee. barnowl09.jpg. November 2004. Pics4Learning. 9 Jul 2013 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Jennie has a favorite CD that she listens to every day. She wants to use it as background music for the copyright presentation she’s creating for a graduate class. Since she bought it, that must be OK, right?

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WHAT YOU CAN’T DO

Nope. Not without permission or purchase of the appropriate license. While she could use a short clip of the song no more than 10 seconds long, as part of a bona fide music review of the CD from which it comes, using the song solely as background music would not qualify as fair use.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Visit these websites for access to public domain or royalty-free music and animations.

SmartSound offers royalty-free music for student projects http://www.smartsound.com/royalty-free-music/free-music-for-schools/

Rekkerd.org http://rekkerd.org/downloads/ BestAnimation.com http://bestanimations.com/

You can also write to the owner of the copyright (usually the record company) and ask for permission to use a sample. But don’t use the music until you get a letter back giving you permission!Clipart – Microsoft PowerPoint non-commercial use

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Ms. Burke wants to make 27 copies of a 4-page magazine article for a 3rd grade lesson on text features. Is that OK?

YES! “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

The copy must show the Fair Use statement.

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REMEMBER, COPYRIGHT IS OWNERSHIP…

Anyone who creates an original work (including this presentation!) owns the rights to copy it, change it, or share it with others.

If in doubt, get written permission from the owner. When sharing outside the classroom, get permission. Integrate copyright issues into student assignments. Cite your sources correctly. Ask your media specialist if you need help!

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REFERENCESCopyright. (n.d.). NC WiseOwl Home Page. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.ncwiseowl.org/blog/copyright/ .

Copyright Kids. (n.d.). Welcome To The FACE Kids Site. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.copyrightkids.org/ .

Georgia Student Media Festival Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Media- Fair Use. (n.d.). GEORGIA STUDENT MEDIA FESTIVAL - Georgia Student Media Festival. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.gsmf.us/fair-use.html.

Johnson, L., & Lamb, A. (n.d.). Learning Resources: Copyright Issues. eduScapes: A Site for Life-long Learners. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic24.htm .

Schrock, Kathy. Copyright and fair use for school projects. (2004). Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.mediafestival.org/copyrightchart.html .

U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use. (n.d.). U.S. Copyright Office. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Students as Creators: Exploring Copyright - ReadWriteThink. (n.d.). ReadWriteThink. Retrieved July 10, 2013, from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/students-creators-exploring-copyright-1085.html