1. Ethics & Responsibility
Unit 2
Lesson 2.03 Copyright Laws

2. Introduction
If someone hired you to sing the “Happy Birthday to You” lyrics, can you do so legally without paying royalties to the owner of that song?
The birthday song is set to pass into the public domain in year 2030—what does that mean?
What if you wrote a song, a play, or a book and someone stole it, recorded it, and made millions of dollars from it?
Would you be protected by any laws?
Read this lesson to find the answers.

3. Introduction At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Interpret copyright laws and policies with regard to ownership and use of digital content (ACOS 13B2)

4. Lesson
England produced the first copyright law in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as a response to the development of a new technology: the printing press.
Copyright is a form of protection given to authors or creators of “original works”; and it includes
literary,
dramatic,
musical,
artistic (including pictures and drawings),
computer software, and
other intellectual works.

5. Lesson
A version of the song “Happy Birthday to You” was written by two kindergarten teachers in the late 1800’s and the rights to that song were sold to The Time-Warner Corporation.
In the year 2008, Warner collected about $2 million dollars in royalties for that one song.
This includes use in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, or even among a group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friend to whoever is performing the song for profit.
So if “Happy Birthday to You” is still copyright-protected, you know that any songs or movies you download and then perhaps sell to your friends would also be protected.

6. Lesson According to Eastern Illinois University,
"If you are downloading something for free that you would normally pay for, there is a good chance that it is illegal."
During the academic year,
that university received over 2,000 copyright infringement complaints for illegal file sharing when students used the university network to download music.

7. Lesson
Under federal law, the recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 per illegally downloaded song –
but the law allows the jury to raise that to as much as $150,000 per track if it finds the infringements were deliberate.

8. Lesson Software piracy is illegally copying software.
Laws, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984, clearly treat software piracy as a crime.
Software industry organizations such as the Software Publishers Association are working with law-enforcement agencies to crack down on piracy.

9. Lesson
Watch Cop E. Wright explain the basics of copyright law to a group of teenagers in the video at Copyright Exposed.
Take a screenshot after you watch the video
Save it you F Drive in your Unit 2 folder as:
2.03 Copyright Exposed

10. Practice Take The Copyright Challenge Test.
Take a screenshot of the certificate
Save it to your F Drive in your Unit 2 Folder as:
2.03 Copyright Challenge Test

11. Side Trip
Did you know that there is a company organized to protect the rights of its members and to collect their royalties for the public performances of their copyrighted works?
They even monitor how many times songs are played on the radio. It is ASCAP — American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
Go to ASCAP: How You Get Paid to find out how artists are paid for performances of their work.
Take a screenshot of
ASCAP Payment System/How You Get Paid at ASCAP
Save it to your F Drive in your Unit 2 Folder as
2.03 ASCAP Payment System.

12. Review
The penalties are much greater for copyright infringement than they would be for theft of the same material in a physical way.
For example, infringement by copying a song is more serious than stealing that music CD from a store.
Copyright infringement is both a criminal and civil offense.

13. Tasks
Task 1
Go to Copyright Basics and answer the 9 questions listed on Questions from Copyrightkids.org Worksheet.
Save to your F Drive in your Unit 2 Folder as:
2.03 Copyright Dropbox.
Task 2
Why do you think our founding fathers included a Copyright Clause in our U. S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8)?
Open a Word Document and type out your thoughts in 2-6 sentences.
Save it to your F Drive in your Unit 2 Folder as:
2.03 Discussion Copyright

14. Are you finished? So, are you finished?
You should have 12 things saved to your F Drive in your Unit 2 folder.
2.01 How Fast Can You Read
2.01 Practice
2.01 Netiquette Scenarios Worksheet
2.01
2.02 What is Bullying
2.02 Webisode 5
2.02 OHSA Computer Workstations
2.03 Copyright Exposed
2.03 Copyright Challenge Test
2.03 ASCAP Payment System
2.03 Copyright Dropbox
2.03 Discussion Copyright
And, you should completed and turned in the Real-Life Stories Worksheet.
So, are you finished?