CopyrightWhat is permitted and what is not?

By: Zulma Blanco

Copyright Infringement

•Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. *Copyright is not lost because you don't defend it; that's a concept from trademark law. The ownership of names is also from trademark law, so don't say somebody has a name copyrighted.

When does copyright infringement occur? It occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without permission of the copyright owner.

“Section 501 of the copyright law states that “anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner…is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author”’

Copyright Infringement Penalties for copyright infringements can go up to $30,000.00 for

statutory damages.And if proven by the copyright owner, that amount

may be increased up to $150,000.00 for each work infringed.

In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney’s fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights.

What is fair use? What is permitted under Fair Use?

Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism.

• However, under the “fair use” doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as…Commentary, criticism, news, reporting and scholarly reports

• There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances.

Fair Use

There are four factors that are focused on when deciding fair use:

1. The purpose and character of your use2. The nature of the copyright work3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken4. The effect of the use upon the potential market There is a few steps on how to get permission to

use somebody else’s work, just so you are on the safe side.

• The user needs to ask for permission from the owner of the work he or she wants to use.

Fair Use

Fair Use

Something to ConsiderCopyright registrations made and documents recorded from 1978 to date are available for searching online.

•If you know who the copyright owner is, you may contact the owner directly. If you are not certain about the ownership or have other related questions, you may wish to request that the Copyright Office conduct a search of its records or you may search yourself…•Whenever an author posts anything to the internet, he or she should reasonably expect that it will be read, downloaded, printed out, and perhaps forwarded on a limited basis. The author impliedly grants a limited license to users to utilized the work in this manner.•There is not fee if you conduct a search in person at the Copyright Office, but if you wish that they do the job, you could be charge $165.00 per hour with a minimum of 2 hours.

Text Music VideoPhotos

& Illustrations

up to 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less, of a copyrighted text work. For example, an entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology

up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work.

up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less, of a copyrighted motion media work (for example, an animation, video or film image).

a photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety but no more than five images by an artist or photographer may be reproduced. When using photographs and illustrations from a published collective work, no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less.

There are also certain “portions limitations”. An educational multimedia presentation may include:

Teachers Are Allowed to Use…•A single copy may be made of any of the following or any part thereof by or for any faculty or staff member at his or her individual request:A. A chapter from a book;B. An article from a periodical or newspaper;C. A short story, short essay or short poem, whether or not from a collective work; D. A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.•Instructors may use their multimedia works for teaching courses for up to two years after the first use•Only two copies of an educational multimedia project may be made, only one of which may be placed on reserve. An additional copy may be made for preservation purposes, but may only be used or copied to replace a copy that has been lost, stolen or damaged. If an educational multimedia project is created by two or more people, each creator may retain one copy for the educational purposes described in the proposed guidelines. Permission is needed for uses that are commercial or go beyond the limitations in the proposed guidelines.

Let’s talk about multimedia in the classroom

Multimedia works include any combination of music, text, graphics, illustrations, photographs and audiovisual imagery combined into an integrated presentation, along with accompanying projection and playback equipment.

For example, an instructor in copyright law may use a software program such as Microsoft Power Point to create a class presentation that includes still and moving imagery as well as music and spoken words.

In general, students and instructors may create multimedia works for face –to-face instruction, directed self-study or for remote instruction provided that the multimedia works are used only for educational purposes in systematic learning activities at nonprofit educational institutions.

Rules for Recording and Showing Television ProgramsNonprofit educational institutions can record television

programs transmitted by network television and cable stations.

It can only use it for instructional purposes during the first ten of the 45 days.

If the teacher wants to keep it within the curriculum, permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.

After 45 days, the recording must be erased or destroyed.

Things to Consider when Posting Items on a Website….“…granting something to the public domain is a complete

abandonment of all rights. You can’t make something “PD for non-commercial use.” If your work is PD, other people can modify one byte and put their name on it” (10 Big Myths about copyright explained number 3:

Copyrights can expire after a certain period of time (this is more so for items placed on the internet from years ago, not modern postings) (10 Big Myths about copyright explained number 3:

Things to Think About…Teachers must model how to site sources appropriately to give

credit to the original author.Teachers and students need to get the proper permission to use

copyrighted materials.Students need to know that there are laws that they can violate,

if they are not citing and getting the appropriate permissions. Teachers need to remind students to use the

created materials for inspiration in the creation of their own work.

ResourcesUS Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov/Stanford University: Copyright and Fair Use:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html

Ten Big Myths About Copyright: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

University of Texas Copyright Site: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm

University of Maryland: Copyright and Fair Use in theClassroom: http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml#faculty

Stanford University: Copyright and Fair Use: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter7/7-b.html#3