Copyright Questions

[Royce Kimmons]

Ask a copyright or fair use question, or help your peers answer their questions. Try to make questions pertinent to education.

[stavishm...@gmail.com]

Digital Copying Question:

 I have only come across proposed guidelines for digital copying and am curious where the law stands on this point. My question to you:

What are the current laws for taking an analog image (original printed work or photo) and scanning/converting it into digital form to be stored

in a computer file?

I shall search the mighty Google. :)

[acgib...@gmail.com]

Do fair use laws mainly apply to educators and education, or do other professions also use and apply fair use laws?

[acgib...@gmail.com]

   I think that copyright laws still apply to an analog image that was converted to a digital image and fair use laws would apply.  For example, an educator can use a digital image created from an analog image for educational purposes but could not publish or profit from the image without permission. 

[bawald...@gmail.com]

After reading about Copyright and fair use, they both sound very similar and the readings only added to the confusion. What would be a simple way to remember the difference between the two? What would be a good way to explain to students why they can't just copy and paste information into their texts?

[Royce Kimmons]

The simple answer is that copyright applies the same across formats (analog/digital). This means just as you would not have the right to buy a book and make physical copies of it to distribute to others, you also could not make a digital copy of it to distribute to others.

If your goal, however, is just to have a backup, then though you would technically be violating copyright, there is little risk involved (no one is going to check your computer to see if you made a copy).

[Royce Kimmons]

Fair use is focused on education, evaluation/critique, and innovation, so it can apply to other industries (e.g., film making, journalism). Fair use has more to do with how you are using materials than who you are.

If you are a teacher that's copying a textbook with a photo copier, then fair use would not apply (this is a copyright violation), but if you are a film maker that shows clips from a major motion picture for the purpose of analyzing thematic elements in the film, then fair use would apply. A journalist that displays bits of text from a book is applying fair use. See the explanation of transformative use here: http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html

[Royce Kimmons]

In a nutshell, just about any creative work is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission. Fair use is a special case where we can use some pieces of a copyrighted work under certain conditions. When you quote someone in a paper and attribute the quote, this is an example of fair use, and you do not generally need the author's permission to do so.

For example, let's say that you are writing a paper on leadership and want to include a quote from Harry Potter in your paper. Can you do this? Yes, because you 1) are using the work in a transformative way (e.g., to explain the concept of leadership rather than to tell a story) and 2) are only using as much as you need to get your point across. This is fair use.

If you wanted to copy several chapters of Harry Potter for your class to talk about leadership, on the other hand, could you do this? Probably not, because this would be much more than you would need to make your point.

Or if you were writing your own version of Harry Potter, could you include quotes from Harry Potter? Probably not, because this would not be a transformative use (you would just be copying the story to write another story).

[pho...@d401.k12.id.us]

I understand the difference between fair use and copyright but  am confused about how you tell the difference between what is copyrighted and what you can use under the fair use laws.  Are some materials strictly copyrighted and others subject to fair use laws?  Can you tell what you are entitled to use by simply looking at a piece of work on the internet?

[pcro...@sd282.org]

I think this is a great question.  I often wonder how this applies to various forms of media like news, talk show programs, and comedy programs.  For example, one cannot watch a Saturday Night Live episode without seeing obvious references, or even inclusion, of content from other sources.  What are the fair use guidelines here?  Do they get permission from original creators?

[Royce Kimmons]

This is why it's tricky. Copyright (by default) applies to every new creation, but fair use also (by default) applies to every new creation. So, fair use applies to anything that is copyrighted.

The tricky piece is what you can and cannot do with fair use, because it's not clearly spelled out and is subject to interpretation. This is why Georgia talked at length about how you would be using the work (e.g., transformative use vs. non-transformative use).

We can avoid this confusion with copyright/fair use, though, by using works that are released under Creative Commons and copyleft licenses. Because with these, you know exactly how you can use them, and these types of licenses have emerged in part as a response to the muddiness that exists around fair use.

[Royce Kimmons]

Regarding SNL and the news, they too are subject to copyright laws and will either use materials under fair use or will seek permission. This is why on late night talk shows they will sometimes mention why they cannot play a full music clip. In music, their lawyers only allow them to play a set number of bars per song, and I assume that similar regulations exist for other media. Ever notice that no one on television sings the "Happy Birthday to You" song? That's because it's copyrighted and the owner does not give permission for it to be used without a sizable fee.

How much of a work these creators intend to use and how they use it will determine whether they need permission, but they have lawyers to guide them in this.

[psh...@fruitlandschools.org]

Does this mean that it is in fact the specific recording of the song, not the actual notes and words that have copyright?  Or is there a separate copyright for the recording and the the sheet music that are given simultaneously when a song is made?

[jr...@fruitlandschools.org]

I was just curious how it would be regulated that you linked to the correct or original link (in order to attribute to the author, etc)? 

[brenda...@mail.bcsd101.com]

I have tried to go over this with my students, but it's so confusing and hard for them to grasp.  Has anyone come across any resources that help to explain copyright and fair use to 12 year olds?  Many teachers just tell them that you can't use other works. I want them to learn that they can as long as they are following fair use laws correctly.

[pcro...@sd282.org]

commonsensemedia.org has a curriculumn broken up by age/grade category that I have found pretty useful (go to education....digital citizenship).  Please notice that these resources aren't shared under a CC license, but they do allow you to use them as they are.

[dkirk...@cdaschools.org]

One of the ways that I address the whole Copyright vs. Fair use when teaching the concepts is to have students think about whether or not the use will have a negative impact on the original author or copyright holder. I ask the question: Is the way I'm using this work going to cause the creator/copyright holder to lose out on being credited for the work, lose out on making money because of my use, or am I going to make money on that use that won't be fair to the creator? If I can answer yes to any of these questions, then it probably isn't fair use. 

So, for teachers, you have to think about who the copyright is protecting and why it is protecting them. Textbooks, for example, are protected so that the company doesn't sell one book to a school and then the school makes copies. The company wants us to pay for each use and when we photocopy their book, we are causing them to lose out on profits. The same would go for music publishers (sheet music for example), they make money on bands paying for each sheet so when we copy, even if for educational purposes, they lose money. 

When we make small copies of original works to prove a point, however, we are not taking away from anyone's profits, and if we are doing it correctly, we are even attributing those creators for their work. In many ways, when we adhere to fair use, we are actually creating more business for the original creators. I can think of many times when I heard or saw a small clip of something, liked it, and then went out and rented the movie or bought an album.

[Royce Kimmons]

Regarding music, to my understanding, both the lyrics and the notes are copyrighted, but potentially by different people. If Miley Cyrus does a cover of a Michael Jackson song, she has copyright over her creation but must also seek permission to use Michael Jackson's song (which may belong to him, his company, or a songwriter). This is part of the reason why copyright is so messy.

[Royce Kimmons]

Regarding attribution, there's no regulatory agency that checks to make sure that you properly attribute something you use. However, if the author finds that you have used their work without properly attributing them, this constitutes a violation of copyright, and they would need to initiate a process to get you to stop.

[Royce Kimmons]

Brenda, the confusion of fair use is exactly why Creative Commons licenses are necessary: they remove the guesswork and help us to understand what we can truly use. Whenever you use copyrighted works under fair use, that use is ALWAYS open to interpretation. There are ways to minimize risk (as Georgia discussed in her interview), but it's still never 100% clear.

[cful...@ririe252.org]

This has been a very helpful section. My question is about printed works. How long do copyrights for printed educational materials last? There were some materials printed in the 90's here in Idaho that we wanted to purchase. One of our teachers contacted the author who said the copyright was about to expire and we could do whatever we wanted. So that copyright wasn't the life of the author plus 70 years.

[Royce Kimmons]

Printed works are no different from other works in life of the copyright, and the law is life of the author plus 70 years. I'm not sure what might have been the case with this resource, but generally authors do not maintain copyrights on their works; the copyright is sold to the publisher, so the publisher controls who can use the materials for the life of the copyright.

[cful...@ririe252.org]

That is what I thought, but I was confused by what I had been told. I think the author was the publisher of the materials our team of teachers were interested in. Maybe she was making the materials open. Perhaps I will contact her myself to sort it out. Thanks