Copyright and the Classroom by Kelly Edwards

Goals/Objectives By the end of this unit, you will: Know the history of copyright in the US Know the role of Fair Use Understand how copyright laws and fair use impact the classroom Understand how Creative Commons works and how you can use it.

Let’s look at some scenarios Review the following scenarios: Is there a copyright violation? Right before Christmas, Mrs. Smith plays the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. After teaching his students about bias and propaganda techniques, Mr. Jones’ students view a series of war propaganda posters. After studying advertising strategies, students view print and TV ads. Students use old propaganda ads, altering them to create modern ones. To assist with reading a novel, Miss Anderson plays an audiotape instead of reading aloud. Mr. Foster shows clips of To Kill a Mockingbird as his students study the novel. Miss Z photocopies and enlarges the text of a novel to assist a student with vision problems (in accordance with the student’s IEP)

History of Copyright in the US 1783: Noah Webster pushes for the 1st copyright law. It “gives authors control over printing and publishing for 14 years with the option to renew” Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). “Owning the past”. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from

History Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution “Congress shall have the power to...promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective writings and discoveries” Article 1, Section 8, Constitution of the United States. The National Archives. Retrieved from charters/constitution_transcript.htmlhttp:// charters/constitution_transcript.html intent is to “balance public good with private reward” allowing for exclusive rights, but for a limited time. Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). “Owning the past”. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from

History 1790: law limits copyright to 2 terms of 14 years each. 1802: the law is expanded to include illustrations. 1831: first copyright period extended to 28 years (plus the 14 yr. renewal), allowed for widows and children to apply for renewals. Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). “Owning the past”. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from

History 1891: International Copyright Treaty extend copyright protection across borders. 1909: law doubled the renewal period to 28 years as well. 1976: copyright term changed to author’s life plus 75 years, extended the copyrights of works already protected 19 more years, creates “Fair Use” Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). “Owning the past”. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from

History 1998: Copyright Term Extension Act extends copyright for works published before : Digital Millennium Copyright Act bans tampering/disabling of copyright protection equipment on digital works. note: a copyright exists the moment something is created. Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). “Owning the past”. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from

Fair Use fair use is a doctrine in United States Copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders. normal uses under “fair use”: commentary, criticism, news reporting, education. “Fair Use” (2010) Wikipedia. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from Heins, M. (May/June 2006). Fair use it or lose it. FAIR. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from

Fair Use to determine if something is a “fair use” consider these four factors: purpose/character of the use the nature of the copyrighted work amount and importance of material copied effect on the market for the copyrighted work. “Fair Use” (2010) Wikipedia. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from Heins, M. (May/June 2006). Fair use it or lose it. FAIR. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from

Fair Use there are no set standards to the four factors so each court interprets them differently most disciplines create their own guidelines for acceptable use of copyrighted materials. Heins, M. (May/June 2006). Fair use it or lose it. FAIR. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from

Fair Use because “fair use” is subjective, how and why you use copyrighted information is important. ex: did you obtain the material legally or illegally? Does the use of the material enhance the lesson? Could the lesson be as effective without the material? Did the teacher give credit for the used material? Code of best practices for fair use in media literacy education. Center for Social Media. Retrieved from Heins, M. (May/June 2006). Fair use it or lose it. FAIR. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from

Implications for the Classroom: Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers use only what is necessary of the copyrighted material and no more. be clear and thorough when planning instruction; outline explicitly your instructional goals and why the material is needed to teach. Give credit where credit is due. protect the access of copyrighted materials (safeguard against downloading, unlawful access). obtain the material legally. use works and information already in the public domain and not under copyright. Code of best practices for fair use in media literacy education. Center for Social Media. Retrieved from

Implications for the Classroom: Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers Schools can also: subscribe to services like United Streaming and other sites that license the use of copyrighted materialsUnited Streaming get permission from the copyright holder to use the material. Code of best practices for fair use in media literacy education. Center for Social Media. Retrieved from

Creative Commons Creative Commons provides a way for creators to control access and use of their work. For teachers, that means you can find material created under a license that allows sharing! Just look for the Creative Commons logo and you’ll be able to see what permissions have been granted to you by the creators! Creative commons icon. [graphic icon]. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from

Let’s Review it is unlawful to use copyrighted material without the expressed permission of the copyright owner unless your use falls under “fair use”. “fair use” provides a way to use copyrighted material without permission in certain instances. It considers: the nature of the material, the effect your use has on the original work, the amount of material you use, the purpose of your use.

Another look at our scenarios--what do you think now? Right before Christmas, Mrs. Smith plays the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. After teaching his students about bias and propaganda techniques, Mr. Jones’ students view a series of war propaganda posters to determine which techniques are used. After studying advertising strategies, students view print and TV ads to examine strategies. Students alter old propaganda ads to modernize them. To assist with reading a novel, Miss Anderson plays an audio CD (purchased by the school) on certain days instead of reading aloud. Mr. Foster shows clips of To Kill a Mockingbird as his students study the novel. Miss Z photocopies and enlarges the text of a novel to assist a student with vision problems (in accordance with the student’s IEP).

Copyright Infringement? With the exception of the first scenario (which has no educational value), all other scenarios would or could fall under Fair Use, depending on how they are used and provided they were obtain legally.

References Article 1, Section 8, Constitution of the United States. The National Archives. Retrieved from Code of best practices for fair use in media literacy education. Center for Social Media. Retrieved from Cohen, D.J and Rosenzweig R. (2006). Owning the past. Digital history: A guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web. Retrieved from Creative commons icon. [graphic icon]. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from “Fair Use” (2010) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from Heins, M. (May/June 2006). Fair use it or lose it. FAIR. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from Verdy, P. (creator). (2007). Books [graphic]. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from What is creative commons? (2010). Retrieved from

For further information: If you would like some further information about copyright and the classroom, you can also check out these sites:

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