Copyright and Fair Use

Technology has made it easy for us to copy from sources without regard to the legal implications. If there is a song or movie you want to own, all you have to do is click a few buttons on your computer. When you copy a song, or cut and paste from a website, you are taking someone’s intellectual property without permission. Copyright laws were created to protect the rights of the creator.

As an example of Copyright and Plagiarism rules, the Scholarly Communication Center at NC State Libraries reminds you, “Quoting extensively from a book without the copyright holder’s permission would likely be copyright infringement. Extensive quoting without permission and without attribution would be [copyright] infringement and plagiarism.”

• What is the purpose of Copyright?
• To promote creativity, innovation, and the spread the spread of knowledge.
• Article 1, Section 8 of US Constitution
• What are the limits?
• Watch this interesting video about how long we have to wait to use Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Walt Disney characters and stories.
• For more specific details visit:
• http://www.copyright.gov/
• http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm (What is in the public domain?)
• Creative Commons - a way to use sources that have been made to SHARE

Fair Use

The United State Government also promotes the legal use of resources for use such as teaching and news reporting so that your research and information use is not infringement. Fair Use doctrine helps to establish an exchange of copyrighted information that may be transformed as needed.

You are exercising Fair Use when:

1. Classroom teaching with copyrighted material like articles, movies and tv shows

2. Using Copyrighted Materials when preparing curriculum

3. Sharing teaching materials with others

4. Students use Copyrighted Materials in their own Academic and Creative Work

5. Sharing student work in a presentation, paper, or online

Some Educational Copyright Fair Use Guidelines

• Cite your sources.
• Limit research photocopies to single articles; chapters from a book; one chart, drawing, or picture from a source; one short story, essay, or short poem.
• Multiple photocopies for classroom use cannot exceed more than one copy per pupil and must follow limits on length.
• Some works have come into use in the “public domain,” because of their age or lack of copyright registry, but when in doubt, assume that all works are copyrighted, even with no symbol or statement.
• Use up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less, of an individual program (film, video, television) in a multimedia project. Do not manipulate media in any way.
• You may make copies of a television show for educational use, but the amount of time you may keep the copy is limited depending on the network.
• Use up to 5 photos and images from one author, and up to 10% or 15 works, whichever is less, from a collection.
• Ask permission by mail or e-mail if you need to use more of a copyrighted work than fair use allows.
• Music from the internet, iTunes, or CD’s may not be dubbed or copied.
• Do not copy or allow others to copy software or copyrighted music files onto a disc or hard drive. The musician, author, or publisher owns the right to this, and the right to profit from it.
• Do not post a web page without proper credit for graphics, designs, and logos.

(from “Copyright and Taping Rights,” “Fair Use,” United States 8-10)

What about Modification and Transformative Use? Yes, you may modify existing media content, and place it in a new context. But as they ask in this video: did I add value?