Copyright Crash CourseWhat you need to know…

Presenter: Yadira Flores

Do copyrights affect you?Copyrights in teaching and research.

• Have you used any of the following creative works?• Books• journal articles• electronic publications• music• movies• Software• artworks• sculpture

Many of us do having no idea if we are breaking the law! Infringement!

Do copyrights affect you?Copyrights in teaching and research

• Scholars and Educators use other peoples work and with todays ability to access and share vast amounts of information over the internet copyright laws are also changing. The following lists the aspects impacted…

*the use of others' works in the classroom, in fieldwork, and the laboratory,

*building on the works of others to create new works,*open source software development,*use and reuse of datasets,*Creative Commons licensing of educational resources,*open access to research results and its acceleration of the pace of

scientific discovery,*the digitization of books in the public domain and digital access to

works still in print as well as orphan works, and*the resulting opportunities to discover knowledge that's been hard to

access in the past.

Who is the owner?The basic steps you need to know!!!

Find out who is the Owner • The author is usually the owner except when the work-for-hire

rules apply.• You need to know what rights you will have of something you

create individually or in conjunction with others.• Also, to what extent or if you can use someone's work with or

without permission.• What expressions are copyrightable?

Copyrightable!!! Poetry; prose; software applications; artwork; musical notation; recorded music and/or song; animations; video; Java applets; a Web page; a Website design, blog posts and comments; architectural drawings; photographs.

Not Copyrightable! Mere facts; exact duplications of public domain works; ideas; systems; works created by employees of the Federal Government; titles and short phrases; logos and slogans; forms that only collect information (rather than provide information).

• More authors complicates copyright ownership

Who is the owner?The basic steps you need to know!!!

Get Permission!• identify the author or authors and contact one or more of

them;• ask whether they own the copyright or whether the work

was work for hire;• ask whether they have conveyed away any of their rights,

and if so, to whom.• Sometimes it is impossible to find ownership of some work-

Orphan Works• When using orphan works you take the risk of

infringement.• Any work is copyrighted and if used without permission

there are liabilities to owner!

Who is the owner?The basic steps you need to know!!!

Protect your Work!• Protecting your work is very easy today!• The moment you write something on paper or hit save on

your computer you are protected• But if you think the copyright for your creation will be

debated you can get register it with the Copyright’s Office• Keep in mind that copyrights make it hard for others to use

your work in a scholarly or educational manner

Why Copyrights are NOT as beneficial?

• Many times copyrights impede the use of work that otherwise would benefit the betterment of education and the piece by educators and scholars.

• The Teach Act gives educators some exceptions and allows them to use some of the work out in the digital world

• The Fair Act was enacted to allow use of work to some extent without harming authors

• Creative Commons allows to ease the restrictions imposed by copyrights

Teach ActGive us a break!

• Allows educators in a nonprofit educational institution to use work without infringement

• Work must be used only in class with enrolled students• The instructor must use lesson related materials and

supervise• Materials may only be used during time of instruction• Institution must prevent further distribution

What is Fair Use???? confused

“Is the use you want to make of another's work transformative -- that is, does it add value to and repurpose the work for a new audience -- and is the amount of material you want to use appropriate to achieve your transformative purpose?”

Creative CommonsSharing is Caring

• A license that allows you or anyone to share or restrict on their work!• Makes it easier to access and use work that will contribute to the

world• You decide what to share • More flexibility without infringement• You can contribute to the world• People know what conditions are set without contacting author• Access to vast amount of work you can build on• As easy as pasting symbol on work

What should Institutions do?

• Copyright is an Issue that everyone should be aware of!• The digital world complicated what copyright used to

be.• Today many have access to lots of information with a

click of a mouse• Institutions need to educate staff, faculty, and students

• Why should we care ?• Who is the owner?• What can I use?

• Find ways to share and find information without going through so many steps

• Avoid lawsuits for infringement!

Reference Materials:

The Copyright Crash Course © 2001, 2007

Georgia K. Harper