Copyright and Fair Use Ms. Scales

Copyright Copyright Law  United States copyright law protects the way an author or artists expresses themselves. The author holds exclusive rights to control copying of their creation.

Copyright Protects  Books  Photos  Letters  Architectural Works  Websites and Information on Websites  Songs  Memos  Movies  TV Shows  Plays  Poems  Short Stories  Computer Software

Copyright details… Copyright protections exists from the time the work is created The copyright becomes the immediate property of the author from the time the work is created Only the author or those who have permission from the author can rightfully claim copyright

Copyright: How Long does it last? Copyright lasts for the Authors lifetime PLUS 70 years Works for Hire, Anonymous, and Pseudonymous works is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, which ever is shorter

Copyright: Two General Principles Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy does not give the possessor the copyright. The transfer of ownership does not include rights to copyright. Minors may claim copyright, but state law may regulate the business dealing involving copyrights owned by minors.

Copyright: What is not protected Facts cannot be copyrighted Ideas from other peoples work, however, you cannot copy the words used to express the idea or the details Single words or short phrases Copies you make of other people’s work

Fair Use  Guideline state that in some instances, we do not have to obtain permission from the copyright owner.  Ex. Educational Use News and Journalism Parody Critique

Before you copy, check the Fair Use Guidelines: Am I using this for a nonprofit, educational purpose? Am I only using a small portion? Will the creator be deprived of future profits?

Trademark and Service Mark Trademarks  a word, symbol, or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols, or designs, that identify and distinguished the source of the goods of one party form another Ex.  Coca-Cola, IBM, Xerox, Velveeta Service Mark  the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.

Trademarks: Service Marks:

™,SM, ®, © ™  refers to unregistered trademark SM  refers to unregistered service mark ©  the official copyright symbol. ®  Official symbol of the trademark. Has been registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. It can only be used after the registration is approved

What can students copy? A single, hard copy for personal or educational use. Limited amounts of websites. Copies cannot be used for public or commercial use. Students must cite the source of their information. For multi-media projects:  Video clips—10% or three minutes  Music—10% but no more than 30 seconds.  Text—10% or 1000 words

Citations Credit  To give the artist or creator reference for using their work Citation  The actual information and documentation of using another person’s work. Citing work use is the only way to use copyrighted information legally. Guidelines exist to cite information properly, ex. MLA

Plagiarism  Failure to give proper credit to the source that you borrowed the material from. In most schools this is punishable by at least a 0 for the assignment and is often followed by further disciplinary action. By not giving the proper credit, you are claiming the idea as your own, when in fact it is not

Direct Quotes If you use someone else’s writing without putting it in “quotes”, you have blatantly plagiarized. Even if you add the source in your bibliography, it is still plagiarism.

Paraphrasing Be careful about rewriting someone else’s words. If your sentences use many of the same words and grammatical structure as the original source, it could be construed as plagiarism. Just put the text in your own words.

Original Idea Give credit to unique ideas others have thought up. If you present the ideas of another without crediting them, you have plagiarized them. Obvious ideas, like know facts, don’t have to be credited. When in doubt, attribute.

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism Always put quotes from text in quotations. Never forget to do this as this is the easiest way to get accused of plagiarism.

When Paraphrasing… Be sure you are not just rearranging or replacing words. Rewrite the phrase in your own words and credit the original source. Double check what you have wrote by comparing it with the original writing.