Official Government Explanation of Fair Use
Fair use is defined by the United States government as "a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of a copyright-protected works in certain circumstances." (p. 1) There are certain factors when deciding if a work is covered under fair use:
1. How it is used
a. "nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair" (p. 1)
b. transformative uses, or adding something new to gain purpose, are fair uses
2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Quantity and quality of the work
4. Financial with regard to the effect of the current and future market value
The courts also evaluate each case individually, therefore there is no set mark on how much of a piece of work can be used without permission.
An Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright laws protect the sharing rights of literary works, original works of any format (music, art, technology), etc. Sharing refers to reproducing, distributing, performing, displaying, transmitting, or transforming individual's works. If people have not confirmed copyright laws, then most likely they have infringed on copyright laws. Basically copyright laws protect the original creators from anyone stealing their works for money or the person/people who steals does not profit from someone else's work. Copyright laws also protect how an original work is used. Original works are automatically copyrighted whether or not those works are registered or not. The owner does not have to announce that their work is copyrighted, nor does the owner have to display the copyright symbol. All works, even anonymous ones, are copyright protected until 95 years after publication. The best way to be sure a person who is using another person's work is legal is to ask permission to use it. The analogy that was used in this article was the idea that many people speed when they are driving. Even though they may not be caught, it is illegal and they were just fortunate that they got away without being noticed. It is the same within the copyright field. There are many people who have escaped being caught after using someone else's work without permission.
The bottom line when it comes to using someone else's works and copyright laws is to ask for permission. Like any other laws, there are exceptions. Fair use doctrine allows for leniency without stealing. "The fair use doctrine was created to allow the use of copyrighted works for commentary, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and classroom instruction." (part 2) This does not mean that teachers can have a free ride when using other people's works. It means that they do not need to get permission for everything they would like to use. (*Fair use factors are mentioned in the first article's summary above.) Basically, it boils down to the idea that people will not use someone else's work to be compensated in any way, money or recognition as if it was stolen property. The best idea for finding out the copyright laws is to go to the laws directly or ask permission from the owner. The following guidelines to copy under the fair use doctrine for educators are:
1. "a single chapter from a book"
2. "two pages or ten percent of a work that includes language and illustrations"
3. "poem of 250 words or less or up to 250 words of a longer poem"
4. "an article, short story, or essay of 2500 words or less, or excerpts of up to 1000 words or ten percent of a longer work, whichever is less"
5. "a single chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper" (part 2)
Due to the fact that the fair use guidelines were created in 1976, there are many pieces missing for our current society. Since copyright laws and the fair use doctrine are long and confusing, it is best to find the source and ask permission. Do not assume that everything and anything is considered fair use. (Everyone knows what happens when we assume!) If an honest mistake is made and someone asks you to stop using a particular work, then stop.
The copyright law is not designed to cover the growing production of technology in today's society. The main idea of the third part of the article is that "the internet is not in the public domain." Most web pages, including the code to create the page and the information on the page itself, are protected by the copyright laws. The internet is worldwide and it is governed by an international treaty, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. This treaty allows countries to establish their own rules, so what may be public domain in one country may not be in another country. There are many rules pertaining to the use of web resources. One that stands out to me is to be careful of copying from a website in which information from another website is included. It is unclear if the person who copied the information was given permission and if someone then borrowed it from a second party, they are just as much at fault. It all boils down to, "when in doubt, ask." Another thing people need to keep in mind is that "print rights and electronic rights are not the same thing." (part 3)
Three kinds of software are explained below.
1. Commercial: purchased
2. Shareware: allows people to try the software, but they must pay for it after downloading it for extended use.
3. Freeware: free software
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COMMERCIAL
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SHAREWARE
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FREEWARE
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COPYRIGHT
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Covered
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Covered
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Covered
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ARCHIVED COPY
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Used only when original package fails or is destroyed
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Used only when original package fails or is destroyed
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Cannot be for profit
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MODIFICATIONS
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Not allowed
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Not allowed
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Allowed and encouraged
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DECOMPILING
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Not allowed without permission of the copyright owner
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Not allowed without permission of the copyright owner
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Allowed without the explicit permission of the copyright owner
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DEVELOPING NEW WORK
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Not allowed without permission of the copyright owner
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Not allowed without permission of the copyright owner
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Allowed and encouraged only if the derived work is freeware; may not
be sold as commercial or shareware
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"Most software today is licensed to users, rather than owned by them, and its use is governed by the licensing agreement rather than by the fair use doctrine. Most licensing agreements do not allow users to copy and distribute commercial or shareware software, although some may permit copying a small section of code to illustrate a programming technique." (part 4)
Back in 1994 there was a conference, CONFU: The Conference on Fair Use, which attempted to discuss fair use with new technologies between copyright owners and interested users. "Proposed guidelines were developed in three areas: digital images, distance learning and educational multimedia." (part 4) Unfortunately a consensus could not be reached. There have been guidelines created for educators to create multimedia projects. These include for: "face-to-face student instruction, directed student self-study, real-time remote instruction, review, or directed self-study, presentation at peer workshops and conferences, such personal uses as tenure review or job interviews." (part 4) There are also guidelines for students. These include multimedia projects for: "fulfilling course requirements, inclusion in portfolios as examples of academic work, and such personal uses as job and graduate school interviews." (part 4)
As stated earlier, copyright laws are used to protect the financial interests of owners and their works. People need to realize that most materials are protected by copyright laws and they have to ask permission to use the works. It is recommended that school districts ensure the validity of materials on their websites, provide professional development for teachers and instruct students on "defamation, invasion of privacy, harassment and copyright law, include an immunity provision in the policy, take prompt action if accusations are made, and be prepared to stand up for staff or students if false accusations are made." (part 5) Also, teachers should let students know that when they are in doubt of a particular work that they should ask for permission to use it or help them identify what they can use as it pertains to fair use.
CREATIVE COMMONS
Creative Commons is a way to take copyright to the next level so that you can have some say over your own works. Copyright enables you automatic ownership to your creations with all rights reserved. Creative Commons, on the other hand, allows you options of sharing your works with others. In other words, your copyright for your works can be altered by you so that other people can use your works to learn and/or get inspired from them.
Education appears to be failing for numerous reasons. One of the biggest reasons is financial. Open Education, a global movement, hopes to revive the education system by putting top-notch learning materials on the web. The materials can be revised and updated by teachers through licenses. This system is supposed to be getting two billion dollars from the Obama administration in the next four years. Therefore, Open Education can be available to everyone, including the financially-strapped schools. Some websites that already participate in Open Education are Khan Academy, Open Yale Courses, P2PU, Flat World Knowledge, etc.
My thoughts
As I was writing my summaries, I was thinking about the legal ramifications of quoting and using other's ideas. I normally think of this, but this time it was more on my mind, especially since I felt I used so many sets of quotes. I was always under the impression that so long as I identified the source that what I used was legal. Now I know that I probably have been lucky not being caught and from now on, I need to ask permission or at least review the law.
I do not think copyright laws and fair use are top on the minds of teachers. But, I bet many mistakes are made without knowing or without being caught. If someone should be caught abusing the law without realizing their fault, they should stop using the work immediately. Copyrighted authors, just as anyone, do not want to miss out on a money-making opportunity; nor do they want to go to court over a copyright issue.
Copyright laws are many and confusing. The articles I read this week were well laid-out and not written in the hard-to-understand legal jargon.
Creative Commons is an interesting idea that takes my mind directly to Wikipedia which allows people to revise and update information as they know it. I think one big difference between Open Education and Wikipedia is that it seems like revisions and updates are done by educators. Nothing is full proof, though. I would like to believe that teachers would not intentionally add misinformation or not verify the information they are adding. Where do teachers gather the knowledge they add to update the sites? Is that information copyrighted or does it come from Creative Commons and people who have given permission to use it?
Video Case Study
- Introduction of the problem- What happened regarding fair use in education in this scenario?
- Analysis of the response- Was the Technology Integration Mentor correct in her response to the email the school received? Provide evidence from your reading this week.
- Your response- What would you have done if you were the adult in charge in this situation? You can piggy back on the Technology Integration Mentor's response or compose a completely new one. Use evidence from your reading this week (other readings from previous weeks may also help).
I think the adult was absolutely accurate in speaking to the students first about fair use and copyright information. By using Flickr.com, each image linked by URL to give credit to its owner and the students did not transform the image in any way. The students just added information, thus added value to the picture.
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