Copyrights and Copy Wrongs Susan wetenkamp-brandt, Minnesota literacy council ABE Summer Institute 2017

Why are we here today? Define key terms related to copyright Identify the usage rights on specific materials Apply this knowledge to make appropriate choices when using or sharing materials Find materials that can be freely used Guide curriculum and materials development at your program in a way that encourages sharing

Agenda Warm-up quiz Key concepts and terms Determining usage rights on materials Scenarios activity Finding materials you can use + exploration time Teachers as authors: Why share? How & where do we share our work?

Just to be clear… I am not a lawyer. Don’t take anything I say here today as legal advice. When in doubt, always: Assume a work is copyrighted. Ask permission to use it.

Copyright US law (there are also international laws) that protects the right of the creator of any creative work to control who uses their work, when, and for what purposes.

The reality of copyright enforcement radically changed with the development of the web. Previously, the ability to mass publish was very limited, but with the web anyone can disseminate materials to millions of people within minutes. This has altered our society’s concept of copyrights and also forced publishers to be much more aggressive in asserting their ownership rights.

Copyright You do not need to apply for copyright. You hold it automatically by virtue of being the creator of a work. UNLESS you create the work while on the job. In that case, the terms of your employment most likely stipulate that anything you create belongs to your employer instead. This was not true prior to 1978. You can register a copyright with the Copyright Office, but you don’t need to apply for it. Registering your copyright makes it easier to enforce or make claims against people who are infringing on your copyright.

Duration of Copyrights Generally, copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. After copyrights expire, the work enters the public domain.

Fair Use The Fair Use doctrine is a flexible exception to the rule that requires everyone to get permission before using a copyrighted work. There are guidelines, but they are open to interpretation by the courts.

Is Your Use Fair? Four key factors

Fair Use Factor #1 Purpose and Character of Use Nonprofit? Education or journalism? Serves the public interest? Transformational? Re-published? Transformational uses (new creative works) are more likely to be deemed fair. For the common good, work you must!

Fair Use Factor #2 Nature of the copyrighted work The more creative the original, the stronger the protection. For example, a work of fiction is more heavily protected than a news article. Respect artists and creators!

Fair Use Factor #3 The amount of the work you used Small excerpts are more likely to be deemed fair. Don’t pig out and take the whole thing!

Fair Use Factor #4 The effect of your use on the copyright holder’s ability to earn money on the original. Don’t be a pirate!

Examples of Fair Use A movie critic plays a clip from a film during their TV show to highlight some aspect of the film that they are reviewing. Probably Fair Use because: Short clip Journalism People don’t watch TV review shows instead of paying to see movies, so this use doesn’t harm their profits.

Examples of Fair Use A teacher copies a short excerpt from a novel to use in class. The excerpts are not re-published (such as posted online). In her curriculum she refers to the original source. Probably Fair Use because: Educational and nonprofit Not republished Small amount of work used Won’t harm profits

Is Everything Copyrighted? Not quite!

Public Domain Some things just belong to everybody! Works created by federal government employees Works where the copyright has expired Works created before 1978 with no valid copyright notice or where the copyright was not renewed Works that the copyright holder has expressly put into the public domain

Public Domain When a work is in the Public Domain, anyone can use it however, wherever they like for whatever purposes they like. They can even sell it! For example, the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is in the public domain. Yet you can still go to a bookstore and purchase a copy.

What if the copyright holder wants people to be able to use their work? But they don’t want to give up all their rights?

Open Licensing Open licenses allow copyright holders to release their work for others to use under conditions that they allow. Most commonly used today: Creative Commons Openly licensed educational materials are referred to as Open Educational Resources or OER.

What is the Creative Commons? Nonprofit organization that helps copyright holders by making it easy to license their work. Where copyright is “all rights reserved,” a CC license is “some rights reserved.”

Creative Commons Licenses Different CC licenses have different restrictions, such as: Attribution Non-commercial No derivations (you can’t alter the work, only use as-is) Share and share alike (if you alter the original, you have to share your new work under the same license)

How do you know? Copyrighted? Public domain? Openly licensed?

Determining Usage Rights If it doesn’t say, assume it’s copyrighted. Look for a CC license, like this:

Is it in the Public Domain? Old things are almost always public domain, such as Civil War photographs and classical literature.

Can they do that? You make the call! Scenarios Activity Can they do that? You make the call!

Work with a Partner or Small Group to: Read each scenario and place it in one of three categories (Stop, Go Ahead, or Unclear). Discuss why you would place it in that category. For items in the “Stop” category: Discuss what they could do differently to fit into the “Go Ahead” category. For items in the “Unclear” category: Discuss what additional information is needed. Choose one scenario that you thought was particularly interesting and be ready to share what you thought about it.

Where can we find free-to-use materials and images? Everyone

I want to share materials I’ve created. What should I do? Anonymous I hope you and teachers like you will ask this question! Sharing with other teachers is how we expand the free-to-use resources available to us all.

Why share? If every ABE teacher in MN shared just one lesson plan, handout, curriculum unit, etc. we would have over 1,000 ABE-specific materials ready for use in classrooms.

Where to share? The OER Commons Open Author is a tool on the OER Commons website that allows teachers to create materials directly on their website. You can also put your materials elsewhere and put a link on the Commons. OER Commons makes it easy to choose your favorite CC license.

Image credits The images in this presentation, with the exception of the portrait of U.S. Grant, were found at pixabay.com and are licensed for use without attribution. The image of U.S. Grant was downloaded from the Library of Congress (loc.gov) and is in the public domain.

For More Information The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr28 0.shtml Copyright Crash Course http://guides.lib.utexas.edu/copyright The U.S. Copyright Office https://www.copyright.gov/index.html

Contact me Susan Wetenkamp-Brandt swbrandt@mnliteracy.org 651-251-9090 Twitter @swbrandt