A GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT & PLAGIARISM Key Terms

ATTRIBUTION Identifying the source of a work. For example, a Creative Commons "BY" or attribution license requires the second user of a copyrighted work to identify the original source of the work.

AUTHOR/ARTIST Creator of a work.

COPYRIGHT A form of legal protection given to the creators of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. U.S. copyright law generally gives the author of an original creative work an exclusive right to reproduce (copy) or distribute the original work to the public, create new works based upon the original work, and perform or display the work publicly. U.S. copyright law generally gives the author/creator or owner of an original creative work an exclusive right to:  Reproduce (copy) or distribute the original work to the public (e.g., create and sell copies of a film)  Create new works based upon the original work (e.g., make a movie based on a book)  Perform or display the work publicly (e.g., perform a play) Violation of one of these rights is called copyright infringement. However, the use may be authorized by copyright limitations (such as fair use).

WHAT IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?  Literary works  Music and lyrics  Dramatic works and music  Pantomimes and choreographic works  Photographs, graphics, paintings and sculptural works  Motion pictures and other audiovisual works  Video games and computer software  Audio recordings  Architectural works

WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?  Unfixed works that have not been recorded in a tangible, fixed form (e.g., a song you made up and sang in the shower)  Work in the public domain (see below)  Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; numbers  Ideas and facts  Processes and systems (e.g., the Dewey decimal system)  Federal government works (e.g., the tax code) Ideas are not copyrightable. Only tangible forms of expression (e.g., a book, play, drawing, film, or photo, etc.) are copyrightable. Once you express your idea in a fixed form — as a digital painting, recorded song, or even scribbled on a napkin — it is automatically copyrighted if it is an original work of authorship.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT A violation of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder, such as copying, distributing, or performing the copyright owner's work without permission unless the use is otherwise authorized by law.

COPYRIGHT TERM The length of time the law allows copyright owners to hold the exclusive rights on their original works. (70 years after death)

DERIVATIVE WORK A new work that translates or transforms one or more original copyrighted works (e.g., a movie made from a comic book, a song written about a photograph, etc.).

EXPRESSION A form of communication. Creative ideas alone are not copyrightable. But the communication of creative ideas in a fixed medium of expression (e.g., a book, play, drawing, film, photo, etc.) may be copyrighted.

FAIR USE One of several legal limitations on the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners. Fair use permits a second user to copy part or all of a copyrighted work under certain circumstances, even when the copyright holder has not given permission or even objects to that use of the work. Courts evaluate fair use claims case-by-case relying primarily on four factors: the purpose and character of the use of copyrighted work, the nature of the original work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the original work.

FAIR USE CONT. Fair Use allows the public to use portions of copyrighted work without permission from the copyright owner. To decide whether a use is a fair use, courts look at four factors: 1.The purpose and character of the second use: Is it just a copy, or are you doing something different from the original work? Is your use commercial? 2.The nature of the original: Was the original work creative or primarily factual? 3.Amount used: How much of the original work was used, and was that amount necessary? 4.Effect: Did the use harm the market for the original work? For example, would people buy this work instead of the original?

FILE SHARING The practice of uploading and downloading digital files (text, audio, video, or image) to and from a computer network where more than one user has access to those files.

LICENSE Permission granted by the copyright holder to copy, distribute, display, transform and/or perform a copyrighted work.

MASHUP A genre of derivative works that are built by creatively reusing and combining various portions of music, film, audio, and graphics.

PARODY An exaggerated, often comical work that takes elements from the work it comments upon in order to target its point.

PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) TECHNOLOGY A network of online computers that allows users to share (upload and download) digital files from computer to computer.

PLAGIARISM The practice of passing off another author's work or ideas as one's own.

PUBLIC DOMAIN Works that are not restricted by copyright and do not require a license or fee to use. Works can enter the public domain automatically because they are not copyrightable, be designated in the public domain by the creator, or become part of the public domain because the copyright term has expired.

REMIX CULTURE A term frequently used by Stanford law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig to refer to a community of amateur creators who blend media and materials to develop new works, and the social context that fosters the growth of that community.

STAKEHOLDER A person, group or organization that has a vested interest in the positive or negative outcome of an action.

HOW ARE COPYRIGHT AND PLAGIARISM RELATED ?  Plagiarism is best defined as the unacknowledged use of another person’s work. It is an ethical issue involving a claim of credit for work that the claimant did not create. One can plagiarize someone else’s work regardless of the copyright status of that work.. Plagiarism, however, is easily cured – proper citation to the original source of the material.  Copyright infringement, on the other hand, is the unauthorized use of another’s work. This is a legal issue that depends on whether or not the work is protected by copyright in the first place, as well as on specifics like how much is used and the purpose of the use. If one copies too much of a protected work, or copies for an unauthorized purpose, simply acknowledging the original source will not solve the problem. Only by seeking prior permission from the copyright holder does one avoid the risk of an infringement charge.

"TEACHING COPYRIGHT." GLOSSARY OF TERMS. WEB. 07 APR Adapted from: