Copyright for Teachers

 

A copyright is a right attached to an original work of art of literature. Under Section 106 of the Copyright Act the creator of the original work holds the rights to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform, display or digitally transmit the work protected under copyright. Since the creator holds exclusive rights to the work, reproductions of any kind are illegal under Copyright Law.

Since 1978, all original works are automatically protected under copyright law whether or not a copyright notice is present or the work is registered with the US Copyright Office. The duration of copyright protection is the life of the author plus 70 years. For works created before 1978, different rules and duration of copyright protection were in effect. If these works were never registered, they became part of the public domain.

Educators and Copyright Law

Fair Use
Copyright Law has a "Fair Use" policy which allows educators to make restricted copies of protected material for educational purposes. The guidelines outlined under "Fair Use" are an attempt by Congress to uphold the rights of the copyright holder and the progress of education. Copyright law provides four standards for determining fair use exemption.

• Section 107 of the Copyright Act states the "Fair Use" exemptions. These statements must be considered when determining whether the use of a copyrighted work is protected under these exemptions. These include:

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature, or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• The nature of the copyrighted work;
• The 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

Test your understanding of Copyright Law. Read Myth's About Copyright

• For more information - Fair Use Guidelines

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The DMCA is an attempt to update the Copyright Law to included copyright issues in an electronic/digital environment. This Act has five "titles".

Title 1 - WIPO Treaty Implementation
- Title 1 requires countries to extend copyright protection to works created in other countries. It also prohibits the tampering of technologies used by copyright holders to protect the integrity of their work.

Title 2 - Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
- Title 2 addresses the copyright responsibilities of online service providers. It prohibits copyright infringement by service providers in four areas: transitory communications; system caching; storage of information on systems or networks at the user's request; and information location tools.

Title 3 - Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance Act
- Title 3 permits a person to create a copy of a program or other software/hardware program for the purpose of maintaining a computer.

Title 4 - Miscellaneous Provisions related to distance education
Title 4 has various tenets that consider copyright issues for protected work in a digital environment, especially with webcasting for instructional purposes.

Title 5 - Vessell Hull Design Protection Act
- Title 5 creates new provisions for the protection of original designs of useful articles.

Key among the topics included in the DMCA are provisions concerning the circumvention of copyright protection systems, fair use in a digital environment, and online service provider (OSP) liability (including details on safe harbors, damages, and "notice and takedown" practices).

For more information - Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act

This act "harmonizes" all aspects of copyright law as it pertains to education in a digital environment. With distance education, materials that were lawfully created for a physical classroom are shared in an online environment thus possibly infringing copyright laws.. This act addresses specific copyright issues in distance education.

For more information - Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act

 

Not Protected by Copyright:

• Works not fixed in a tangible form
• Titles, short phrases, names, common symbols, designs,lettering, coloring, or lists of ingredients
• Ideas, procedures, methods, discoveries, but descriptions or illustrations of these items may be protected by copyright
• Works containing only non-protected material with no original authorship, such as plain calendars, lists or common facts, charts or measures