Copyright

Copyright is defined as “a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for ‘original works of authorship’, including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations. ‘Copyright’ literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, title, principle, or discovery. Similarly, names, titles, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols, mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, coloring, and listings of contents or ingredients are not subject to copyright.” (U.S. Copyright Office)

Fair Use

Fair Use is a legally defensible position that protects the use of some copyrighted material under some circumstances. For example, copyrighted materials used for educational purposes within the classroom can sometimes be defended by Fair Use. Whether or not Fair Use can be claimed depends on:

• The nature of the work borrowed
• The amount of the work borrowed
• Whether or not the use of the work changes the original work’s value in the
  marketplace

Some uses of copyrighted work that can be defended by Fair Use include:

• Commentary
• Search engines
• Criticism
• News reporting
• Parody
• Research
• Teaching
• Library archiving
• Scholarship

Public Domain

“A work of authorship is in the ‘public domain’ if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.” (U.S. Copyright Office) All federal government works and “any work published in the United States before 1923 or works published before 1964 for which copyrights were not renewed” are in the Public Domain. (Stanford University Libraries)

Creative Commons

“Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of
creativity and knowledge through free legal tools… CC licenses let you easily change
your copyright terms from the default of ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved.’ Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.” (creativecommons.org)

Creative Commons licenses “…do not affect freedoms that the law grants to users of
creative works otherwise protected by copyright, such as exceptions and limitations to copyright law like fair dealing. Creative Commons licenses require licensees to get
permission to do any of the things with a work that the law reserves exclusively to a
licensor and that the license does not expressly allow. Licensees must credit the
licensor, keep copyright notices intact on all copies of the work, and link to the license from copies of the work. Licensees cannot use technological measures to restrict access to the work by others.” (creativecommons.org)

Portfolios

Some copyright exceptions are extended in the case of student and teacher portfolios:

• Multimedia works made by students may be retained indefinitely in portfolios
  maintained by the student for job interviews, college applications, and other
  purposes.
• Educators may retain projects indefinitely in a portfolio for later personal use
  purposes such as a tenure review or a job interview.

Distance Education

Because instruction in the 21st Century can be provided in online environments, all
CSD educators might be rightly classified as “Distance Educators.” Distance Educators have some, but not all of the rights listed in the “What can I do in the classroom” column below. A course taught using a website that is in a closed, password-protected environment (e.g. Canvas) has more rights to use copyrighted material than an open, non-password-protected website (e.g. Weebly). Even a course taught through a website like Canvas does not have the same rights to use copyrighted material as a teacher does when in a regular, physical classroom.

“The TEACH Act authorizes us to digitize works for use in digital distance education, but only to the extent we are authorized to use those works in Section 110(2), and so long as they are not available digitally in a format free from technological protection… Fair use is almost always going to be the best source of authority for making copies in any context, but especially in conjunction with statutes like 110(2) that give us specific authorization that may not be sufficient in a particular case.” Visit the TEACH Act website for more information.