K-12 Copyright Laws: Primer for Teachers Presented by: Mark Bowersox January 20, 2010

Copyright Laws Do’s & Don’ts What is legal in the school classroom? Definition of Copyright: "The legal right granted to an author, a composer, a playwright, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work K-12 COPYRIGHT LAWS: PRIMER FOR TEACHERS

Music used in the K12 classroom for a project of any kind needs to be evaluated - because the music might be copyrighted, the words might be copyrighted, and the performance might be copyrighted. K-12 COPYRIGHT LAWS: PRIMER FOR TEACHERS

For a song that is 300 years old the music would have passed into the public domain out of any date of copyright, the words would also (including the words if it had), but the performance would still fall under copyright laws. Therefore, the multimedia guidelines for fair use suggest a limit of no more than 30 seconds or 10% of the piece, whichever is less and only for very limited use (for a student, within the confines of the classroom or to retain as part of a portfolio; for a teacher, limited to two working copies for two years. Thus, with the limitations, you couldn't use 30 seconds of anything you happen to own or find and use this music in a project that's placed on lots of computers in your school, and you can't use it indefinitely (unless you get permission). To get around this, think about play the piece yourself which would allow unlimited rights to use because the music is out of copyright and the performance would be your own.

K-12 COPYRIGHT LAWS: PRIMER FOR TEACHERS Music that Can be Used in Education Without Permission or License and played in the class room if it is: an original composition and you are the composer or have the composer’s permission you have the permission of the publishers the music is used in distance education and you comply with all the requirements of the TEACH ActTEACH Act OR in the Public Domain IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN –works published before January 1, –works published between 1923 and 1978 that did not contain a valid copyright notice. –works published between 1923 and 1978 for which the copyright was not renewed. –works authored by employees of the federal government. –works that the copyright owner has freely granted to the public domain. –no works published after January 1, 1978, will pass into the public domain until at least Even anonymous works are copyright protected until 95 years after publication.

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