From youth, some dream of making
it big as a musician, movie maker, writer, or other career that involves
creating material from scratch. These people grow up and find success, putting
their life's work on display for us to view. If we like it, we want to have a
copy of it for ourselves - for our use in whatever way we want, including in
our classroom. Unfortunately, some users are not as bound by ethics as others,
and the need for copyright law comes into play.
Copyright law protects the rights
and privileges of the creator of many types of works. It secures the created
works as a means of earning a living, working to be sure that the
author/composer/producer receives, not only verbal/written credit for the work,
but also a fair monetary compensation for the time, effort, and expense
required to create the material. However, the ease of sharing information via
the Internet has made monitoring the use of copyrighted material more
challenging, and many people are confused about how to uphold copyright laws in
their use of the material.
One myth concerning fair use in
education is that:
EDUCATORS CAN RELY ON “RULES OF THUMB”
FOR FAIR USE GUIDANCE.
This is a very confusing element
of the fair use "rule" in copyright law. The law is not very clear on
what makes something "fair," and the flexibility of the rule can lead
to a disagreement between the creator and the user of the copyrighted material.
According to the “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy
Education,” four types of considerations are included in the copyright law -
the purpose of using the work, what kind of copyrighted work is in question,
how much of the work is used, and how its use might affect the financial status
of the owner and the user.
When considering how much of the
work is used, I have always heard that you can use the rule of thumb concerning
what percentage of the material is being used. For instance, no more than two
bars of a song or less than 10% of a written work. The reality is that
copyright law and the fair use guidelines do not specify any quantitative
limits, and the judgment on whether or not the use is fair is somewhat subjective.
Should legal action be taken, it is up to the judge to make the call on
legality of use.
I actually find this information
even more interesting in light of the recent Georgia State University copyright
lawsuit. In short, the university was sued by some textbook publishers because
they had posted portions of the books as electronic resources for students to
use. Almost 100 cases of alleged copyright infringement were cited and the
judge determined that only five were truly a violation of the law. In fact, the
ruling stated that the university had been found to have done its best to
uphold copyright law, validating the school's efforts to apply the fair use
guidelines in its classes.
References:
Code of best practices in fair use for media literacy
education. (n. d.). School of Communication, American University. Retrieved
from http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0
“GSU wins copyright case.” (2012). Georgia State University.
Retrieved from http://www.gsu.edu/news/61650.html
Fair Use...hmm. Sometimes we really want to use it the way we want to. The biggest fair use issues for me are those things that can be paid for online, but aren't supposed to be shared. for example, these cutie now CCGPS cards and assessments that one of my colleagues bought for $10. They have now been shared all throughout the building. The urge to scan and put on the T:Drive is strong.
ReplyDeleteWe also like to share our paid online subscriptions.
I am guilty of using whatever clipart I find for whatever I want on my smartboard or powerpoint presentation, without citation. I haven't reposted any of it online yet, though.
As far as the Fair Use regarding copying books, I don't know any teacher in my building who has time to copy books...oops just thought of one instance. We do photocopy those running records assessment books. (People steal your copy, you have to have a backup!)
But Fair Use is very ambiguous, and the gray area leaves a lot of room for teachers to push the limits.
I too feel that the Fair Use guidelines are terribly vague. Our media specialist is very much afraid of copyright infringement, and is constantly reminding us of the rules, but I went against this in showing a movie of a book we had read as I found it complied with the Fair Use guidelines. Again, very lose and vague guidelines, but I feel I was certainly in accordance.
ReplyDeleteI wish that educators could have a little more leniency with copyright when it comes to subscriptions or making copies. With budgets being cut and cut, it is hard to not want to stretch resources out a bit more.
I really enjoyed reading your post about copyright law! I will be the first to admit that I am unsure about the guidelines (since they are so vague). Reading the material Dr. Cooper sent us was definitely helpful and helped to better guide my idea of copyright. The first time I heard of copyright was in high school. It made sense that I would give credit where it was due, but then it definitely became more confusing. As I ventured into college I learned different ways to cite information and for different reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe misconception that struck accord for me the most from the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy was the same one you mentioned. The rule(s) of thumb seemed to be the “safe” way to approach fair use and it seemed more concrete. I have spoken to my media specialist at my school about fair use. She even admitted that she wasn’t positive on every part, but did assure me that we could find answers if needed. I will definitely forward the link to the Code of Best Practices so that she can read it and clear up any misconceptions (I know I had a lot!).