Ethical and Legal Issues Chapter 2
Safeguarding Intellectual Property A legal concept that protects a creative work just as if it were physical property Musicians Music companies Authors Personal work Photographs Safeguarding Intellectual Property
Legal means of establishing ownership of intellectual property Owner has legal right to restrict who may copy work Does not prevent using work Requires permission from copyright owner Copyright
Copyright Idea converted into physical form Briefest of presence Includes digital media presence Recording serves as physical presence Eligible once it is shared in physical form Copyright notice Copyrightdate Name of Copyright Holder Not a requirement to be legally protected Copyright
Copyright, cont. Notice serves three purposes Reminds users that work is protected Establishes date when protection begins Makes it easier to see permission to use work Registration not required to be protected Registration of copyright Form required Fee to U.S. Copyright Office ($35 and up) Copyright, cont.
1976 Copyright Act Exclusive right to do/authorize other to do: Reproduce work in copies or phonorecords a physical object in which sounds (except for the sounds that go with a movie or audiovisual work) are fixed, such as a compact disc Prepare derivative works based on original Distribute copies/phonorecords of work by sale, transfer of ownership, rental, lease, lending Perform work publicly Display work publicly Perform work by means of digital audio transmission 1976 Copyright Act
1976 Copyright Act Created on or after January 1, 1978 Life of author + 50 years Created before January 1, 1978 Brought under statute Life = 50 years Ask for permission to use copyrighted work 1976 Copyright Act
Royalties Permission can be granted for free Permission can be granted for royalty Fee paid to the person who owns copyright on a creative work when it is used by someone else Web sites may advertise royalty free Images/music Licensing agreement that gives the buyer almost unlimited permission to use a copyrighted image for a one-time fee Royalties
Software Licenses Proprietary Owned by the company that created Term used for software code that has restricted rights of use Owned by the company that created Software is licensed to you—you don’t own it Accept licensing limitations upon installation End-user license agreement(EULA) Contract software purchasers must agree to before using software Software Licenses
Software Licenses, cont. Open source Software that allows others to use its code without cost Copyright protections—copyleft A licensing protection used by those who create open source software Allows users to use, study, copy, share, and modify GNU General Public License The standard open-source contract or license Software Licenses, cont.
Software Licenses, cont. File formats are proprietary—Microsoft file formats Public domain Creative work whose copyright restrictions have expired Open source software Software Licenses, cont.
Trademarks Trademark Do not need to be registered Word, phrase, or image used to identify something as a product of a particular business Do not need to be registered Offers protection from use by others without permission ®--registered trademark TM—unregistered trademark United States Patent and Trademark Office Trademarks
Illegal File Sharing File sharing Copyright violation Use of a network to move files between computers, often for illegal purposes Copyright violation Federal courts, U.S Supreme Court Uploading or downloading copyrighted material without permission is violation of law Punishable by large fines and possible imprisonment Illegal File Sharing
Copying a product (often digital) for profit without authorization from the owner. Music and video frequent items that are pirated Billions of dollars are lost by companies Piracy
Digital Rights Management Technology that prevents unauthorized copying of a digital work Use in CDs and other media Prevents even backup copies Digital Rights Management
Fair Use Guidelines Use of copyrighted material Fair use The right to reproduce a small part of a copyrighted work for educational or other not-for-profit purposes without having to obtain permission or pay a royalty fee Limited to educational copying Very limited in commercial/business world Fair Use Guidelines
Copying or otherwise using someone else’s creative work and claiming it as your own, usually in an academic or journalistic work, but also more recently in social media Different from copyright infringement Concern of academic world Document sources to avoid plagiarism Violation of many honor codes for educational institutions Turnitin.com Plagiarism
Web Site Citations Five components Author (or Web administrator) Date Title of article (or heading of page) Access date URL Deep linking—citing a Web address that goes beyond the home or entry page Web Site Citations
Citation Styles Two organizations APA MLA American Psychological Association MLA Modern Language Association Similar information needed for both Differences are in capitalization, order, punctuation Citation Styles
Online Bibliographies Help to create bibliography entries EasyBib BibMe Online Bibliographies
Ethics Moral choices between right and wrong actions Technology issues Is it ethical to use your cell phone for personal calls while at work? No policy against Ethically correct? Ethics
Ethics/Photo Editing It is ethical to: Make a model look thinner Change the color of the sky Add people to group photo Remove people from photo Distort images created by others Ethics/Photo Editing
Ethical Decision Making Consider how your actions affect others Does it hurt someone? Is it like stealing? Does it affect someone livelihood? Does it encourage others to do the same? Ethical Decision Making