Copyright in the Classroom

“Criminal or Inventive:  Dispelling Myths About Using Copyright Materials”  One of the more interesting workshops I attended last spring, was this presentation by Michael George, an ITRT from Fredericksburg Public Schools    One great resource from this session was the film;  A Fair(y) Use Tale, which Disney doesn’t like, but you will enjoy, if you watch it in the player below.  Disney lost their suit against its creator—read the following session summary to find out why.  The video below, doesn't seem to show up in Firefox--it does work in Internet Explorer, for Firefox users, click here.  In Internet Explorer, it loads slowly, so be patient.

 

Most teachers deal with copyright laws either by crossing their fingers and doing things secretively, or by toting the line and complying with “guidelines” such as, “use no more than 10 % of….no more than 30 seconds of a song,”  etc.  Often we are governed by ignorance and fear when it comes to copyright laws

The “guidelines” alluded to above sound very authoritative and specific.  However, these guidelines are basically put out by the publishing industry itself (what does that tell you?)   “In fact the guidelines bear little relationship, if any, to the law of fair use.”  The fair use concept itself, enshrined in the law through judicial interpretation, is not nearly so specific.  The fair use doctrine lays out four factors the courts consider when deciding whether a copyright violation has occurred.  They are:

o   The Nature of the Use

o   The Nature of the Work Used

o   The Extent of the Use

o   Its Economic Impact 

The key to understanding “the nature of the use” seems to be an understanding of the term “transformativeness.”   -- has the original been changed in some way so that value is added?  For example, does the inclusion of the picture add value to the PowerPoint the student is creating—if so, its use is permissible—as is the use of all the Disney material in the video above. 

Surprisingly, Michael George has been unable to find ANY instance in which a school system lost a copyright infringement case and he stated that if a school system should lose, the laws are written in such a way as to shield both them and school employees from financial penalties (that’s a relief). 

The presentation concluded by stating that the best educational practices include two basic considerations:

1. Is the use of the copyrighted work transformative?

2. Are the kind and the amount of the copyrighted work used appropriate to accomplish the legitimate purpose?  

Of course, the author of the copyrighted work should be cited, whenever possible. 

These considerations apply to all forms of media: print, images, websites, moving image media, sound media, analog, paper, and digital.  It doesn’t matter as long as the material was obtained legally.  If some nefarious person benefitted monetarily from an image a teacher posted on the Internet, THEY would be violating the law, NOT the teacher.    

Mr.  George recommended that those seeking further information on this topic consult the book Copyright Clarity by Renee Hobbs. 

Here is a link to the slide show used for this presentation—just skip the first five or so slides., there are additional resources listed at the end of the presentation.

More information from Michael George is available at www.cityschools.com/copyright   

In a future post I plan to address Creative Commons licensing.