1. Ethical and Legal Issues
Chapter 2
Ethical and Legal Issues
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2. Lessons Lesson 2.1: Safeguarding Intellectual Property
Lesson 2.2: Avoiding Plagiarism
Lesson 2.3: Making Ethical Decisions
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3. Learning Outcomes
2.1: Explain the concept of intellectual property, including copyright and trademarks
2.2: Identify the difference between copyright violations and plagiarism
2.3: Demonstrate proper use of citations and fair use
2.4: Discuss the ethical challenges facing digital media, including piracy and file sharing
2.5: Explain how licensing applies to software
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4. Copyright
Intellectual property is a legal concept that protects a creative work just as if it were physical property
The term copyright literally means restricting the right of others to copy
To be copyright protected, an idea must be converted into a physical form
A copyright notice follows this format: Copyright © [date] [Name of Copyright Holder]
It is not necessary to place a copyright notice on a creative work to make it legally protected
Administered by the U.S. Copyright Office
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5. Copyright (continued)
Copyrightable works include the following categories:
musical works, including any accompanying words
dramatic works, including any accompanying music
motion pictures and other audiovisual works
pantomimes and choreographic works
pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
sound recordings
architectural works
literary works
Warchi/iStockphoto.com
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6. Copyright (continued)
Permission – simply ask to obtain permission to use copyrighted material
Royalties
A royalty is a fee paid to the person who owns the copyright on a creative work when it is used by someone else
Royalty free is a type of licensing agreement that gives the buyer almost unlimited permission to use a copyrighted image for a one-time fee
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7. Copyright (continued)
Software Licenses
Proprietary means the software code has restricted rights of use
An end-user license agreement (EULA) is a contract that software purchasers must agree to before using software
Open source software allows others to use its code without cost
Copyleft is a licensing protection used by those who create open source software
GNU General Public License is the standard open-source contract or license
Works in the public domain are those creative works whose copyright restrictions have expired or which are open source
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8. Copyright (continued)
Trademarks
A trademark is a distinctive word, phrase, or image used to identify something as a product of a particular business or organization
It automatically conveys the identity of the organization it represent
Do not need to be registered to be protected from use by others without permission
Registered trademarks carry the ® symbol while unregistered ones use the ™ symbol
Administered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office
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9. Are Copyrights Needed?
If there were no protections for creative work, would people still produce movies, publish music, or create software?
Would artists paint and would writers write?
Would you be more or less willing to be creative if you knew that your work could be used without your permission?
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10. Illegal File Sharing
File sharing is a useful means of transferring Information from one computer to another
The term file sharing has come to mean the illegal transfer of copyrighted material between computers
A form of copyright violation
Having paid for a work does not mean you can share it with anyone you choose
Uploading or downloading copyrighted material without permission is against the law
PhotoEuphoria/iStockphoto.com
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11. Illegal File Sharing (continued)
Piracy
Piracy is copying a product (often digital) for profit without authorization from the owner
Music and video products as well as software are frequently subjects of pirating
Digital Rights Management
Digital rights management (DRM) is a form of technology that controls digital copying by inserting a software program into the CD (or other media) that restricts copying
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12. Fair Use Guidelines
Fair use is the right to reproduce a small part of a copyrighted work for educational or other not-for-profit purposes without having to obtain permission or pay a royalty fee
Fair use is determined using guidelines that are part of Title 17 of the United States Code
To determine the amount of a work that may be used, you have to consider the overall work
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13. Defining Plagiarism
Plagiarism is copying or otherwise using someone else’s creative work and claiming it as your own, usually in an academic or journalistic work, but also more recently in social media
To avoid plagiarism, document the source of your material
It is not enough to cite the source of copyrighted material to avoid copyright infringement
You cannot use copyrighted material in your own work (except under fair use guidelines) without the owner’s permission – even if properly cited
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14. Using Proper Web Citations
The five basic components of a proper Web site source citation are:
Author
Date
Title of Article
Access Date
URL
Deep linking is citing a Web address that goes beyond the home or entry page
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15. Using Proper Web Citations (continued)
American Psychological Association (APA) Author [last, first]. (date [year, month day]). Article title. Retrieved date [month day, year], from organization website: URL
Modern Language Association (MLA) Author [last, first]. Article Title. Date. Publisher. Date retrieved. <URL>.
Online Bibliographies
Web sites that help you create bibliography entries
Most allow you to designate the desired style
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16. Ethics and Photo Editing
Moral choices between right and wrong actions are referred to as ethics
Some ethical questions for image editing:
Is it ethical to make a model look thinner than she is in real life?
Is it ethical to change a sky from cloudy to bright blue?
Is it ethical to add a missing family member to a group photo?
Is it ethical to remove someone from a photo because you no longer like that person?
Is it ethical to use a photo taken by someone else and distort the image, making the subject appear ridiculous?
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17. Ethical Decision Making
When making a decision, think about what harm you are doing others
Does my action hurt someone?
Does my action act as a form of stealing?
Does my action prevent someone from earning a living?
Does my action encourage another person to hurt someone else?
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18. Maintaining High Ethical Standards
Business and ethics are not mutually exclusive terms
Suppose your supervisor asks you to create a series of graphs using financial data you know has been falsified; a co-worker was fired last month for refusing to do this
What will you do?
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19. Key Concepts
Intellectual property is a creation of the mind that is treated as a tangible property
Copyright laws give the owner of a creative work the legal right to restrict who may copy the work
A trademark is a distinctive word, phrase, or image that visually identifies something as a product of a particular business or organization
Fair use allows students and some professionals to reproduce a small part of another person’s work, though proper credit should be given to the creator
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20. Key Concepts (continued)
Plagiarism involves copying another person’s creative work and claiming it as your own
Piracy involves stealing another person’s creative work, usually for profit
Ethical decisions require you to make choices about what is right
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