Fair Use Laws
Copyright and Fair Use Laws
Effects of Copyright and Fair Use on Educators
Melissa Osuna
National University
“The power of technology is a two-edged sword…” (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p.20), with an infinite amount of easy-access resources available online, copyright and fair use laws or more important that ever. The availability of online periodicals, full-texts and others resources is increasing drastically, and its imperative to make sure teachers and students understand and are in compliance with copyright and fair use laws. (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p. 20).
Copyright is a “legal device that provides the creator of a work of art or literature, or a work that covers information or ideas, the right to control how the work is used” (Fishman, 2008, p.6). Copyright laws provide authors the property right attached to their original work, it grants them exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, adapt, perform or …show more content…
display the protected work. Copyright laws protect seven broad categories which are literacy works, musical works, dramatic works, pantomimed and choreographed works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, motion pictures and audiovisual works and sound recordings (U.S. Copyright Office, 2008, p.8). Copyrighted work can be used or copied under certain conditions such as Fair Use.
Fair Use “explicitly allows use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes such as critisism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research” (Fair Use and Copyright for Teachers.).
There are a few factors that the Copyright law provides for purpose of fair use, these exemptions are purpose of use, nature of work, proportion/extent of material used, and the effect on marketability. (U.S. Copyright Office, 2008, p.4). If you were to just make copies of copyrighted work for educational purposes or altered specifically for you audience it is considered fair use, its important to remember that unpublished works are usually not considered fair use, published works are always safer to use to ensure you are following the fair use policy. The more of the text you use the more likely it will be considered fair use, also the more the work different from the original the more it falls into the fair use category. Educators must always evaluate how Fair Use laws affect them in their
classroom.
The abundance of new technologies available to teachers and the great expanse of information available as well as the ease of being able to cop, transfer and digitize learning materials faster and easier then ever, it is also bringing a new set of challenges as well (Fair use and copyright for teachers). With Fair Use laws constantly changing many educators “often do not understand how much leeway they have in using other peoples work” and often find the law “confusing, ambiguous, and unclear” (Fair Use and Copyright for teachers). Educators may incorporate portions of copyrighted material when used to enhance or provide examples when producing their own educational multimedia for their own teaching tools in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions (Fair Use Guidelines). The best advice for educators is to be aware of how much, where, why, when and how material that going to be used when considering Fair Use Policies. Educators should not only practice Fair Use for their own legal protection but also be a model the rules and standards they are teaching.
Technology warehouse such as the worldwide can present teachers with tremendous challenges in creating learning opportunities for their students, its important they remain compliant with Copyright and Fair Use laws. The internet can be a great resource for teachers and students and can also be a great resource to investigate and better understand Copyright and Fair Use laws, to make sure they protect themselves while still using technology to expand their students learning abilities.
Effects of Copyright and Fair Use on Educators
Melissa Osuna
National University
“The power of technology is a two-edged sword…” (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p.20), with an infinite amount of easy-access resources available online, copyright and fair use laws or more important that ever. The availability of online periodicals, full-texts and others resources is increasing drastically, and its imperative to make sure teachers and students understand and are in compliance with copyright and fair use laws. (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p. 20).
Copyright is a “legal device that provides the creator of a work of art or literature, or a work that covers information or ideas, the right to control how the work is used” (Fishman, 2008, p.6). Copyright laws provide authors the property right attached to their original work, it grants them exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, adapt, perform or …show more content…
display the protected work. Copyright laws protect seven broad categories which are literacy works, musical works, dramatic works, pantomimed and choreographed works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, motion pictures and audiovisual works and sound recordings (U.S. Copyright Office, 2008, p.8). Copyrighted work can be used or copied under certain conditions such as Fair Use.
Fair Use “explicitly allows use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes such as critisism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research” (Fair Use and Copyright for Teachers.).
There are a few factors that the Copyright law provides for purpose of fair use, these exemptions are purpose of use, nature of work, proportion/extent of material used, and the effect on marketability. (U.S. Copyright Office, 2008, p.4). If you were to just make copies of copyrighted work for educational purposes or altered specifically for you audience it is considered fair use, its important to remember that unpublished works are usually not considered fair use, published works are always safer to use to ensure you are following the fair use policy. The more of the text you use the more likely it will be considered fair use, also the more the work different from the original the more it falls into the fair use category. Educators must always evaluate how Fair Use laws affect them in their
classroom.
The abundance of new technologies available to teachers and the great expanse of information available as well as the ease of being able to cop, transfer and digitize learning materials faster and easier then ever, it is also bringing a new set of challenges as well (Fair use and copyright for teachers). With Fair Use laws constantly changing many educators “often do not understand how much leeway they have in using other peoples work” and often find the law “confusing, ambiguous, and unclear” (Fair Use and Copyright for teachers). Educators may incorporate portions of copyrighted material when used to enhance or provide examples when producing their own educational multimedia for their own teaching tools in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions (Fair Use Guidelines). The best advice for educators is to be aware of how much, where, why, when and how material that going to be used when considering Fair Use Policies. Educators should not only practice Fair Use for their own legal protection but also be a model the rules and standards they are teaching.
Technology warehouse such as the worldwide can present teachers with tremendous challenges in creating learning opportunities for their students, its important they remain compliant with Copyright and Fair Use laws. The internet can be a great resource for teachers and students and can also be a great resource to investigate and better understand Copyright and Fair Use laws, to make sure they protect themselves while still using technology to expand their students learning abilities.