Copyright Laws

Right to Earn a Living Photographers Authors Artists Musicians Software Programmers

The Person Who Created the Work… They are the only person who has the right to make copies of their work or give permission to make copies. They are protected by the copyright laws.

Breaking the Law If you make a copy of someone else's work that is protected by copyright and give it or sell it you are breaking the law. Displaying copyright work on your website for public display is also illegal.

Not Getting Caught Just because you haven’t got caught doesn’t make it right. Only when we are given permission by the copyright owner is it OK. http://www.copyright.gov/

Fair Use Act This gives students the right to copy work for school in reports and projects. The student has to put quotation marks around the words that have been copyrighted.

Plagiarism If you copy and paste together a report you need to give credit where credit is due. You may not get arrested for plagiarism you can get in trouble at school.

Credit Given When… You copy someone’s words exactly – even one sentence. You copy a drawing, diagram, chart, or graph that is not yours. You copy facts that most people do not know. Or tell someone else’s idea in your own words without giving them credit.

Copyrighting The bottom line is that it is wrong.

References The CyperSmart Education Company