Copyright Laws

This information is not meant to be comprehensive, but to provide an overview for teachers and students at Aiken High School to assist them in ensuring compliance with our copyright laws.

Copyright

If something is copyrighted, it means the owners* have the right to know how their work is:

  1. reproduced

  2. distributed

  3. portrayed or displayed in public

*The material CANNOT be just an idea. the idea must have been transferred to some medium.

fair use

  • Purpose of the use

  • Nature of the work used

  • Amount of material used

  • Effect of the use on the market for the original owner

Fair use applies to education, criticism or comment (reviews), and news reporting.

Creative Commons

Attribution

Must give credit to the owner.

Non commercial

Cannot use for profit.

No Derivatives

Cannot change the original design.

Share Alike

If something new is created, use same permissions.

For tEACHER use

DO:

  • 1 copy per student

  • Place on Schoology only (since the site is secure)

  • Place a link to a source instead of downloading it.

  • 1 copy per student

  • Poems, <250 Words

  • Articles, <250 Words

  • Novels, 10% or 1000 Words

  • Charts and Graphs, 1 per Book

  • Cartoons and Drawings, 1 per Book

  • Contact the author of works if you want to use them continuously.

DON'T:

  • Use resources year after year without obtaining the author's permission.

  • By-pass the share function for You Tube Videos.

  • Give credit or attribution, even for information found via Creative Commons.

  • Place links by-passing school or state accessed sites such as bypassing SCDiscus.

  • Make copies of worksheets from any textbooks or workbooks found online.


For sTUDENT use

DO:

  • Summarize your findings. Changing a few word is still plagiarism.

  • Place information that you use word for word in quotes and cite your sources.

  • Place citations and in-text citations in a paper for facts or ideas that you take from a source and are not common knowledge.

  • Cite your sources using the MLA formatting guidelines. OWL Purdue is a great source for citation rules.

  • Use sources that provide access to creative commons licenses.

DON'T:

  • Plagiarize

  • Place only a URL in for a citation. This is not an accurate citation.

  • Use images and not give credit.

  • Download video games and music without paying for it (yes - you will get caught!)

  • Trust a site that says free downloads!


Plagiarism

How to avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when a student takes another person's thoughts or ideas and tries to pass them off as their own. Typically this occurs because students believe since they reworded a new thought and did not use an exact quote, it is not plagiarism. It is important to remember that any idea that was not your own must have the source credited. Although many teachers will accept just works cited, many teachers also require in-text citations.

More information on creating citations can be found under the MLA Formatting link or by clicking the link below.

Special Resources for Teachers

SandraZeller_CFPresentationsAssignment.pptx

Presentation

Copyright and Fair Use

Presentation for Teachers

Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers Handout.pdf

Printable

A Quick Reference Guide for Teachers on Copyright Laws.

Produced by permission from techlearning.com.