Copyright Law and “Fair use”

Guidelines

What is copyright? ©

“The exclusive right to produce or reproduce (copy), to perform in public, or to publish an original literary or artistic work.” Duhaime's Law Dictionary

What is copyrighted?

Almost everything created privately and originally– whether it has a notice or not.

How long does © last

Anything created after January 1, 1978 – Until 70 years after the author's

death.

For works made for hire (e.g., copyright held by companies) – 95 years from publication or 120

years from creation, whichever is shorter.

What is not copyrighted?

Works that have no tangible form of expression (have not been written or recorded)

Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles

Works consisting entirely of information that is common property

– calendars, height and weight charts, telephone directory etc.

Facts

What is “fair use”?

“the fair use of a copyrighted work,… for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

4 Tests for “fair use”

Your use is non-profit and educational

The work contains mainly facts and lacks originality

You use only small portions

You’re not copying instead of buying

Fair Use Guidelines

Should not publicly publish the work other than to showcase it for in-house purposes

Motion Media– Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, of

a single copyrighted motion media work

Text Material– Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less,

of a single copyrighted work of text.

Fair Use Guidelines

Music, Lyrics, and Music Video– Up to 10%– but no more than 30 seconds of music

and lyrics from a single musical work– Any alterations shall not change the

melody

Fair Use Guidelines

Illustrations and Photographs:– A photograph or illustration may be

used in its entirety.– No more than 5 images by an artist or

photographer.– Not more than 10% or 15 images,

whichever is less, from a single published collected work.

Fair Use Guidelines

Credit the sources Display the copyright notice ©Display copyright ownership

information e.g.

–© 2001 SchoolNet SA

Fair Use Guidelines

Crediting the source:– Give a full bibliography

• including author, title, publisher, and place and date of publication

• Separate page, except…

– Copyright notice and the name of the creator must be included with the image so that it appears on the screen when the image is viewed

Fair Use

Remember:

These are guidelines

and not the law

Sources consulted

“Fair Use Guidelines For Educational Multimedia”

Prepared by the Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines Development Committee, July 17, 1996 http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html

“Fair Use Of Copyrighted Materials” by Georgia Harper, University of Texas http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/copypol2.htm

“10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained” by Brad Templeton http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

“Duhaime's Law Dictionary” by Lloyd Duhaime http://www.duhaime.org/diction.htm