Copyright Rules Lauren Stockton

Questions 1-3 What is the penalty for copyright infringement? A fine of $200-$150,000 and time in jail What does the term “fair use” mean and who is included in the fair use clause? Fair use is copying copyrighted material for a limited or “transformative” use, and it mainly includes to categories in this clause, 1) commentary and criticism or 2) parody. What are the conditions for deciding fair use? There are four conditions for deciding fair use, 1) the purpose of your use, 2) the nature of the copyrighted work, 3) the amount of the portion taken, 4) the effect of the use on the potential market.

Questions 4-5 When using multimedia in the classroom, what kinds of things need to be considered when determining whether copyright has been adhered to? Some things that can help determine if copyright has been adhered to is, looking to see if the proper citation has been used, if the conditions of fair use have been correctly met, and if they maintain control over their products use. What are the conditions for using someone else’s words? The person must be named as well as where (or in what) they said the quote.

Questions 6-8 What are the conditions for using another’s musical score? The student or teacher can use up to 10% of either the body or sound but no more than 30 seconds and any alterations cannot change the basic melody or structure of the work. What are the guidelines for using film in the classroom? So long as the film was acquired legally and is used in face-to-face teaching activities, the film can be legally shown. What if you want to tape something off the TV to use in the classroom…What are the rules here? Up to 10% of the clip can be used or 3 minutes of the clip, whichever is less, but no alterations to the clip are allowed.

Questions 9-10 How can you get permission to use items in your classroom? The process of getting permission starts with finding the owner and learning what rights are needed. The next step is to contact the owner and negotiate payment if necessary and then get the agreement in writing. When items are posted to a website what should the creator be careful to consider? That everything is cited properly. That there is a full and proper bibliography for both the information and the images and that copyright notice and information be displayed to show the original source.