Intellectual Property And Fair Use

What is Intellectual Property?  “The term intellectual property refers broadly to the creations of the human mind.”  “Intellectual property rights protect the interests of creators by giving them property rights over their creations.” (World Intellectual Property Organization)

Copyright  Once a piece of intellectual property has been made tangible (written down, recorded, etc.) it can be protected by one of several sets of laws.  Copyright Law is one of them. Patents are another example of laws written to protect intellectual property.  Copyright laws were designed to protect “original works of authorship”, specifically, the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and some intellectual works.

Copyright  These laws protect creators’ rights to profit from their own creations.  A copyright holder has the right to decide how their work is produced, distributed and used. If an artist is not able to be compensated for their own creations, would they be as likely to create new work? What do you think?

Public Domain There are materials out there considered to be in the Public Domain. This means anyone can use them. Examples of items in the Public Domain include:  Works an author has allowed the public to use  Works published before January 1, 1923  Works published between 1923 and 1978 that did not get or renew their copyright  Works written by an employee of the federal government  Works consisting of no original authorship (calendars, measurement charts, etc.)

Public Domain Is NOT… Everything you can find on the Internet!

Fair Use Doctrine However, some uses of copyrighted material are considered O.K. without having to seek permission first. These are:  Use for critical analysis or commentary  Parodies  News reporting  Scholarly research  Classroom instruction

Fair Use: What does it mean for you? Most of us like to borrow images and music for multimedia projects in school. Fair use says that’s O.K. as long as you only use a part of the work (like one minute of a song) and you only play it in class for your teacher and classmates. Post the same project to YouTube, and you might have a problem. You are now distributing a copy that you didn’t pay for, and it’s no longer for an educational purpose.

Piracy  Probably the most common violation of copyright among teens is piracy.  Are you a pirate?  Ever download and watch a movie you didn’t pay for?  Do you share music files among your friends or through file sharing websites?  Ever burn a copy of a CD you owned and give it to a friend?

Piracy – Common Excuses  If I only like one song and can download it for free, why buy the whole thing?  Record labels, musicians and actors make all kinds of money. It’s not hurting anyone.  Everyone else does it. Any of these sound familiar? (Use any of them yourself?)

Piracy Truth is – There are lots of people behind the scenes that are part of the recording and film industries. Their incomes depend on you paying for a song or movie just as much as the famous artist and record labels. How about the guy driving the tour bus? How about the receptionist answering the phones? How about the camera and sound crews? Who else may be affected? What would happen to movies and music if it was all free?

Plagiarism  Define it in your own words:  Does it look something like this? According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own to use (another's production) without crediting the source to commit literary theft to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

Plagiarism How do you avoid accusations of plagiarism in your work?  Do not “cut and paste.” Learn the art of summarizing.  Do not use the work of another student (past or current) in your work and claim it’s yours.  Cite your sources for any quotes or ideas that you didn’t come up with on your own.  Use MLA formatting at TCHS for cited works. You can go to sites like Bibme.com and KnightCite.com to help you.