Pretest:
Copyright Scenarios Quiz
Three Common Misconceptions
about Copyright
- If there is no copyright symbol ([C]),
the work is not protected by copyright.
- Copyright protects ideas.
- Copyright was created primarily to protect an
author's intellectual property.
The
Facts:
- Original works are protected by copyright
from the moment they are fixed in a tangible
medium.
- Copyright protects the expression of
ideas, not the ideas themselves
- The primary purpose of copyright is to
promote learning, not to protect property (1)
10
(more) Big Myths about copyright
The Copyright Balance
(2)
- Copyright law attempts to balance the rights
of the author with the rights of the public, but congressional
action, judicial interpretation, and international treaties
continuously adjust the pivot point of that balance.
- The balance has steadily shifted away from
promoting the public good (learning) in favor of protecting the
copyright owner's property.
- Types of work protected by copyright have
expanded-from the just published maps and books to virtually any
work that is fixed in a tangible medium
- Term of protection has been extended from 14
years to the life of the author plus 70 years
Fair Use
- Provision in 1976 Copyright Act attempted to
redress this growing imbalance
- Sets a limit on the monopolistic control of
the author.
- If the use of a work promotes learning,
knowledge, and the public good and if its use will do relatively
little harm to the author's property rights, then it is not
necessary to get the author's permission to use the work.
The
Four Factor Fair Use Test
- 1.What is the character of the
use?
- 2.What is the nature of the work to be
used?
- 3.How much of the work will you
use?
- 4.What effect would this use have on the
market for the original or for permissions if the use were
widespread?
- * An unwritten 5th factor: Time
limits
Fair
Use Rules of Thumb (University of Texas)
Horror
Story: The Texaco Case
Copyright & the
Web (3)
- When you access a web page, you are
(temporarily) copying the page info to your computer
- When you use your browser's Save
function to save the Web page to your computer, do you have a
valid fair use argument for doing so?
- A link is a URL, a fact not unlike a
street address, and is therefore not copyrightable. However, a
list may be copyrightable under a compilation copyright if it
contains some originality
- Implied public access: by putting
yourself on the Web, you have given implied permission to others
to link to your Web page, and everyone else on the Web is deemed
to have given you implied permission to link to their Web pages.
Netiquette dictates that: Links to other Websites be removed if
the linkee objects.
- Composite Webpages, e.g. frames
& other methods of creating pages by "hidden links" to
graphics and other elements from the original sources; implied
public access does not apply if context is changed.
- For more: Copyright
Website: Website Issues,
Copyright
Law in Cyberspace
How
to Stay Legal
(4)
Educational
Fair Use Guidelines For Digital Images
(proposed by CONFU-
Conference on Fair Use)
More Resources
Fair
Use Web Resource Links (page by Kim Lim)
Copyright
Website
UC
Copyright Education Web Site
"Copyright
in the Digital Classroom: Old Laws, New Complexities." U.C. Teaching,
Learning & Technology Center, October 2003
Copyright
Primer (from Center for Intellectual Property, University of
Maryland)
Fair
Use of Copyrighted Works - CETUS (CSU-SUNY-CUNY)
Copyright
and Web Teaching (Dartmouth Univ.)
Ginsburg, Jane C. "Stolen
Content: Avoiding Trouble on the Web."
Academe Jan-Feb., 2001.
Works Cited
1. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: "The primary objective of copyright
is not to reward the labor of authors, but `[t]o promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts.' To this end, copyright assures
authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others
to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work.
This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by
which copyright advances the progress of science and art."
(Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Feist Publications. Inc. v. Rural
Telephone SerLice Co., 499 U.S. 340, 349 (1991))
2. "Three Common
Assumptions" & "Copyright Balance" based on: Hilton, James.
"Copyright Assumptions and Challenges". Educause Review,
Nov./Dec. 2001, Vol. 36, Issue 6, page 46+.
3. Copyright
Website: Website Issues
4. See: "How
to Stay Legal" from Web Teaching (Dartmouth Univ.)
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last
revised: 10-22-03
by Eric Brenner, Skyline College, San Bruno,
CA
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