Copyright Treasure Hunt Seth Huey

What is the penalty for copyright infringement? “Infringer pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits. The law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed. Infringer pays for all attorneys fees and court costs. The Court can issue an injunction to stop the infringing acts. The Court can impound the illegal works. The infringer can go to jail.” https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/penalties.html

What does the term “fair use” mean and who is included in the fair use clause? “Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.” (http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)

What are the conditions for deciding fair use? “Certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.” (http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html) One easy indicator of fair use is whether the user is monetizing the use of the copyrighted material. If money is being made, the law is much less likely to allow the free use of the copyrighted material.

When using multimedia in the classroom, what kinds of things need to be considered when determining whether copyright has been adhered to? What are the guidelines for using film in the classroom? Multimedia can be used in the classroom when permission is given from the copyright owner, or if it could be categorized as fair use.

What are the conditions for using someone else’s words or musical score? When using someone else’s words or musical score, the use must be properly cited to give credit to the original. The borrowed work should not garner profit for the borrower. The ideal condition to use these works would be to acquire permission of the author(s) or publisher(s).

What if you want to tape something off the TV to use in the classroom…What are the rules here? “Off-air recordings may be used once by individual teachers in the course of relevant teaching activities, and repeated once only when instructional reinforcement is necessary…” “All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright notice on the broadcast program as recorded.” http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ21.pdf

How can you get permission to use items in your classroom? You can acquire permission to use materials by contacting the copyright holder, and getting permission in writing. If you do not receive a response, and you can stay within fair use guidelines, following those guidelines should reduce the likelihood of litigation against you.

When items are posted to a website what should the creator be careful to consider? The creator should be careful to cite any quotations, and obtain permission to use any images that are not provided by the domain or owned by the creator. Any embedded video should be linked to its original location. If the creator is using any materials that aren’t covered by fair use, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder, or the creator should forgo using that material.

Image Credits All images are from www.gettyimages.com