Copyright and Fair Use
This website was created to help you develop the skills you need to evaluate, properly cite and organize resources you use for school assignments and projects. As you know, there is an abundance of information on the web; good and bad. Hopefully the information and tips on this site will help you to not only assess information found on the Internet, but to also understand the proper way that these sites, pictures and information should be cited.
Educators and students who use 21st century media will hopefully make sense of the rules and guidelines that accompany Copyright and Fair Use. Copyright makes sure the creator of a creative work has the right to control who can make copies, or make works derived from the original work. If you create something, and it fits the definition of a creative work, you get to control who can make copies of it and how they make copies, with some important exceptions. The Fair Use Doctrine was created as part of the Copyright Act of 1976. Fair Use is defined as the reproduction or use of copyrighted work for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research without the consent of the person or group who own the copyright. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
These guidelines may seem very vague; and they are, but keep in mind that if you or your students are using copyrighted material of any form to improve, or supplement the educational process you should fall under the the category of Fair Use. Where we get into trouble is when we begin to distribute this work in an uncontrollable environment where we cannot control who see’s it. A good example would be using copyrighted materials to create a presentation for a class and then posting that presentation to the web (blog, webpage, youtube, etc.) without the consent of the person who holds the copyright for those materials. WHEN IN DOUBT ASK PERMISSION! Listed below are a few guidelines you may want to keep in mind!
Proposed Guidelines for Students and Instructors creating Multimedia Presentations
- up to 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less, of a copyrighted text work. For example, an entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology.
- up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work.
- up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less, of a copyrighted motion media work (for example, an animation, video or film image).
- a photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety but no more than five images by an artist or photographer may be reproduced. When using photographs and illustrations from a published collective work, no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less. Or,
- up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted database or data table may be reproduced. A field entry is defined as a specific item of information, such as a name or Social Security number in a record of a database file. A cell entry is defined as the intersection where a row and a column meet on a spreadsheet.
Five Ways to stay out of trouble using information from Websites
- Assume everything is copyrighted.
- Make sure you read any agreements that may be posted on a site. Just because something is labeled “royalty free”, copyright free”, etc. doesn’t mean it is. They may ask you to link to their site, or ask for permission.
- If someone has what may seem to be a legitimate complaint about material on your website, take it down while you investigate it.
- If something is copyrighted, ASK FOR PERMISSION!
- If you are creating, maintaining, or hosting a website and you have any question that something may be copyrighted, ASK FOR PERMISSION!!!
A more recent article with a video embedded may also shed some light on the topic of fair use. If you want to download the full version of the report click here.
Here is a on-line quiz designed to test your knowledge of Copyright and Fair Use principles. Great article and quiz on copyright from techlearning.com. This one may be more applicable to what we use in school’s.
Here is a chart that may shed some light on what is permissible for various copyrighted mediums.
There are many resources that free and downloadable located on the curriculum links page of this blog.
Teaching Copyright- Great resource that includes lesson plans and activities to do in your classroom with your students. There are 5- 60 minute lessons/activities that lead students through process of understanding copyright.
Citing Web Resources
This page was created to help you develop the skills you need to properly cite and organize resources you use for school assignments and projects. As you know, there is an abundance of information on the web; good and bad. Hopefully the information and tips on this site will help you to not only assess information found on the Internet, but to also understand the proper way that print materials, websites, pictures and other information should be cited. The Main styles that can be used are: APA, MLA, Chicago and Turabian. Resources that may be helpful in citing your sources are” Easybib and CitationMachine.
Websites
Stanford Copyright and Fair Use site:
Example: Stanford University Libraries. Copyright and Fair Use. [Online] Available http://fairuse.stanford.edu/index.html, Retrieved February 14, 2008.
Online image
Example: Grand Teton Mountains. (Online Image) Found at:http://www.blubet.com/bet/1.8.2008_beach_mountains_city_island on February 14, 2008 Copyright A. Lee Bennett, Jr. / ATPM, www.atpm.com
Online sound
Example: Description or title of sound. (Online Sound) Available http://address/filename, date of document or, if not available,
date of download.
Online video clip
Description or title of video clip. (Online Video Clip) Available http://address/filename, date of document or, if not
available, date of download.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. I just did a project for my graphics class using photoshop. I downloaded a copyrighted image for the project, but manipulated it. Can I post this in my final portfolio? No, if you do you and the school will be liable for copyright infringement. This does not fall under the fair Use section of the copyright law because you are taking an educational project for a class and posting it to the web where everyone can access it. You would have to ask the creator of the work for permission to us the image.
2. When I am finished with my school project that contains copyrighted material, can’t I post it to a web page so everyone can see it? Not Legally. If you haven’t asked for permission from the original creator of works, your project doesn’t fall under the category of Fair Use once you post it to the web.
3. What is Public Domain? Public Domain are any works that aren’t copyrighted. It’s still a good idea to give the author credit.
4. How do I contact the creator of a copyrighted work to ask for permission? The best way is to send an e-mail if you can find contact information and include “Permission to Use” somewhere in the title of the e-mail.
5. How do I help my students find what images they can legally download form the web for projects or work they are doing? The first suggestion would be for students to either create their own artwork, or take pictures with a digital camera. If that isn’t possible, the following site has some great resources on educating students about image use.
6. I always find sites that claim they have free images. Most of the time when I go to them, they either charge money, or have certain restrictions limiting their use. How do I find out if they are really free? 1. Always check for a copyright statement at the bottom of each page. 2. Always check for exceptions that may apply to your use. (Ex.- Educational policy on FreeFoto.com)
Webliography
Stanford University Libraries. Copyright and Fair Use. [Online] Available http://fairuse.stanford.edu/index.html, Retrieved February 14, 2008.
Cornell University Libraries. Evaluating Webpages. [Online] Available http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html, Revised 28 October 2005
Elizabeth E. Kirk . Johns Hopkins University- Evaluating Internet Information. [Online] Available http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/ Retrieved February 14, 2008.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction . Copyright in an Electronic Environment. [Online] Available http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/copyright1.html, Retrieved February 14, 2008.
2learn.ca Educational Society. Copyright and Images @ 2learn.ca. [Online] Available http://www.2learn.ca/copyright/images.html#2 Retrieved February 14, 2008.
Springfield Township High School Virtual Library. Student Guidelines for Multimedia and Webpage Production. [Online] Available http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/guidelines.html Retrieved February 14, 2008.
