Learning about Copyright

Whenever you write or create a… ~ Poem ~ Story ~ Paper ~ Drawing or ~Other artwork YOU automatically own the copyright to it!

~ Literary ~ Dramatic ~ Musical ~ Artistic ~ And other intellectual works In fact, copyright is something that protects the work of people who create…

As the creator of your work Only you can decide what you or others can do to your creation. YOU DECIDE who can … ~ make copies of your work ~ give out copies of your work ~ show your work publicly ~ show any parts of your work on the Internet or television

Why should you even care about copyright? Chances are, if you work really hard at making something, you don’t want someone else to “steal” what you’re proud of…

For example, what if… ~ After writing your three page paper, someone put their name on it? ~ You drew an awesome picture for your dad and your friend took it and gave it to his dad?

What does copyright not cover? ~ Basic ideas ~ Facts ~ Names ~ Government documents and reports

What if you really want to use something that IS copyrighted?

Good news! There’s a thing called “fair use” Students have a right to use PARTS of copyrighted works in school

In fair use, we must think about… 1. Why we want to use it Are we going to make $ from using it? 2. What kind of work we will use Is it more creative or factual? 3. How much we will use Are we planning to use 99 of the 100 pages? 4. How it affects other people Will someone lose money by our use?

What if it’s not under fair use? You will have to ask permission of the person who owns the work’s copyright

What if you don’t get the permission that you need and still use the intellectual work? There are very serious consequences! So don’t do it!

So if you like a picture, quote, or song, Remember copyright rules are not wrong Give credit to where its due And your integrity will always be true Copyright (c) 2004 by Genevieve Artel