By: Trey Rodriguez

 Copyright infringement occurs whenever copyrighted material is transferred to or from a website without authorization from the copyright owner. Copyright infringement  So as teachers and students, we must keep this in mind when researching or implementing tools from sites to our curriculum.  If such actions are taken then generally the owner of the site will be liable for any claims of infringement.

 A fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and "transformative" purpose such as to comment upon, criticize or parody a copyrighted work.fair use  Fair use is also known to be defense against infringement.  We see examples of fair use in everyday uses like for example on face book, when users quote lyrics from an artist’s song as a status.

 Under the "fair use" rule, someone other than the copyright owner may make limited use of a copyrighted work without permission for purposes such as teaching.  A classroom teacher who wants a particular program taped should ask the school to tape it.  The tape may be shown only during the first ten consecutive school days after it is made, and only in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction. A tape may be shown to several classes if appropriate

 After the ten-day classroom use period expires, the tape may be used only for evaluation -- that is, to determine whether it should be bought or licensed for permanent inclusion in the teaching curriculum. Not later than 45 calendar days after the tape was made, it must be destroyed.  The guidelines do not discuss whether or not a teacher may record a program at home for school use. It seems likely, however, that the practice is permissible so long as all the other guidelines are followed.

 A teacher or school that makes unauthorized videotapes is in violation of the copyright law and runs the risk of being sued for copyright infringement.  In the past 200 years, only a handful of copyright infringement suits have been brought against educators, and there is only a single reported court decision on videotaping, which involved large-scale, systematic taping by an educational consortium in New York.