Copyright in Education

Copyright protects anyone who creates/makes something (song, book, software, art, movie, play, pantomime, photograph, choreographed dances, digital works or creations, etc.)-even anonymous creators.  It is automatic upon creation and a work does not have to be registered or published for copyright to take effect.  Creation must be in a physical form (if it’s in your head, it’s not copyrighted).  U.S. copyright law is found in Title 17 of the United States Code.  Copyright was not created to make teacher’s lives harder.  Copyright exists because there is incentive for people to create things when they can be compensated for their work and have protections and rights regarding those creations.  Otherwise, why would anyone put in the effort?

Facts themselves are not copyrightable.  For example, you can’t copyright a standard calendar.  However, you can add photographs and create a calendar for sale and copyright that.  Usually, the more creative the work, the more copyrightable it is.  An idea does not become copyrighted until you put that idea into some form of physical medium.-it has to be able to be seen, read, or heard directly or by aid of a machine.  Works created by the federal government or its employees (such as publications or circulars from the US Dept. of Education) are not copyrightable.  You can’t copyright a name, slogan or a phase.  You would need a trademark for that.  You can’t copyright an invention or a discovery.  You will need a patent for that.  The US does have agreements with other, but not all countries. Copyright does expire.  Anything made before January 21, 1923 is in the public domain and can be used freely.  There are some other rules about the public domain.  Some works that were not originally protected may be in the public domain as well.  See this site for a chart created by Lolly Gasaway of the University of North Carolina which contains more specifics on the public domain:  http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm.  The U.S. government has agreements with some, but not all, countries.  Therefore, copyright laws can vary between countries.  Creators should be aware of this. 

Given copyright laws, one might assume an educator would never be able to use anything in the classroom without going to a lot of work to gain permissions.  Fortunately, fair use allows educators to make LIMITED and REASONABLE use of copyrighted works for educational purposes without getting permission from the author/creator.  Fair use are guidelines which are open to interpretation by judges, so be careful when employing them.  The guidelines involve dos and don’ts.  According to fair use, you may use a portion of a work without getting permission if you meet fair use guidelines.  The material you want to use must have been obtained legally.  The use must be for educational and non-profit purposes.  You must use it for factual and non-published purposes.  You must use only a LIMITED AND REASONABLE amount of the work-only the amount you need to meet your educational goal.  You should also use it for a limited time (not the whole year) and for a limited audience-only the students in your class, not the whole school.  The Columbia University Libraries puts out a helpful checklist for its faculty and staff.  You can find a link to it in the reference section of this presentations.  You can and should use a checklist such as this for each material you plan to use and keep a copy of it on file after the use.  Fair use also allows works to be used for criticism and commentary, parody, news reporting, art, scholarship and research.  Some of the don’ts of fair use include that the use must not be commercial and it must not prevent or take away any sales or profit from the creator or copyright holder.

Online educators must abide by copyright law, however, there are some differences in things online educators can do and face-to-face educators can do.  The TEACH act of 2002 covers these differences.  This act is very technical and has many restrictions.  It allows you to digitally transmit material under the following stringent conditions:

If you work for an accredited, non-profit, educational or governmental agency that has copyright policies in place and if you, the instructor, are controlling the transmission

If the work is a non-dramatic literary work (poem or short story) or a non-dramatic musical work (any music other than an opera or music video)

If you obtained the copy legally

If it is only during the class session and not longer

If it is part of an instructional activity or directly related to the content of the instruction

For more information, use the TEACH act of 2002 Checklist from the University of Texas at https://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/teachact.html#toolkit.

Some exciting resources for educators include open education resources and creative commons.  People who create something and want to make it available to others for free and with less restrictions than normal copyrighted materials have the ability to do so through these two formats.  Open education resources can be found in commons such as the oercommons.org.  They include materials that are made available to the public such as software, data, courseware, lesson plans, digital files, and more.  They are usually free, adaptable, and allowed to be redistributed once adapted.  They usually require attribution to original creator.  A Creative Commons license allow creators to provide their work to others under certain conditions.  There are four choices for creators:  Attribution, Share Alike, Noncommercial, No Derivative works.  For example, allowing others to copy, display, distribute, perform, and derive their own works from yours ONLY if they give you credit in a way you deem.  See CreativeCommons.org for more info on the types of licenses available.

Be aware of what rights you have when you are employed by an institution.  Ko and Rossen (2010) report that some have policies that will allow you to use your courses elsewhere and other do not.  They recommend several steps to protect your intellectual property:

using software such as Adobe Acrobat to protect your own work from theft

using and requiring passwords to access your website, or convert it to streaming media because streaming media is housed in an area on the user’s computer which isn’t readily or widely known

always use the copyright symbol to warn and ward off would-be copyright abusers

check for unauthorized use through online search engines

be professional and gracious when you notify the offender, they may not have done it on purpose.  If they refuse to take it down, you may need legal representation.

As a final warning, use these tips to help protect yourself.  Always get permission if you are not sure.  Simply citing or referencing the author or work will not protect you under copyright-you must have permission if it isn’t fair use.  Opt for the public domain whenever possible.  Protect yourself by using a checklist each time you use a copyrighted material.

References

Copyright Advisory Network American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://librarycopyright.net/resources/Copyright for teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from https://www.auburn.edu/citizenship/copyright_for_teachers.html

Copyright in General (FAQ) | U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html

Crews, K. D. (2008, May 14). Fair Use Checklist [PDF]. New York: Columbia University Libraries.

Gasaway, L. (2003, November 4). WHEN WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Harper, G. K. (n.d.). The TEACH Act. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from https://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/teachact.html#toolkit

Hawkins, A. (2016, January 06). The New York Public Library just uploaded nearly 200,000 images you can use for free. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10723680/nyc-library-public-domain-images-digital

Ko, S. S., & Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching online: A practical guide. New York: Routledge

Starr, L. (2010, May 25). The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml

Teaching Copyright. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from https://www.teachingcopyright.org/handout/fair-use-faq