Corry A. Worrell
ELRC 4507
Copyright & Fair Use Blog
Copyright & Fair Use Blog
One of the most important areas to comprehend when it comes to using information for lessons in education is in understanding the kinds of information we can use. Copyright and fair use are essential components to know when utilizing different resources to educate students. With this said, I will begin explaining copyright, fair use and the permissible amounts of copyrighted information that can be used by teachers and students.
Copyright is a form of protection given by the U.S. Constitution and the law to authors of works of art, literature, drama in the capacity of how the work is used or expressed. When we look at the specifics of what copyright covers, that would include things such as computer software, songs, movies, novels, architecture and poetry. With these things in mind, we must be careful of the kinds of online videos, blogs and photographs that we may post online because they can be against in violation of what copyright laws permits. I would say that some of the aspects that can give us flexibility and solace as educators and students when it comes to what is not cover under copyright laws would be that facts, ideas, systems and methods of operations do not fall under copyright protection directly.
Another important aspect to consider is what the requirements are for works to be copyrighted. There are three aspects which qualify works to be copyrighted and they are fixed, originality and minimal creativity. Fixed refers to works that have a permanent medium where it can be perceived, reproduced or communicated for more than a short period of time (2020). An example of this could be if there is a work that was written on paper, posted online, stored on a computer or phone, recorded on audio, video or electronic device. Originality is a work that is created by a human that has at least a small amount of creativity. Minimal Creativity is when the work is based on another piece of work. The new work has to be a piece that is above and beyond the original work. With this said, there may just need to be a spark of creativity in order to meet this requirement.
Fair use is another important concept to comprehend. Fair use is an advocate that promotes the freedom of expression by permitting unlicensed use of copyrighted protected works in certain circumstances (2020) . The only conundrum is that there isn’t any set guidelines to determine per say, that something is fair use. There are, four factors courts use to determine whether or not it is okay to use copyrighted content (fair use) without consent of the copyright holder. The first is purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. Here, there is a focus on transformative potential. It analyzes whether or not it merely repackages the content or creates or even adds something new. The second is the nature of the copyrighted work. In the second factor, there is a focus on its creative nature and how factual it is. The third is the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. In the third factor, what’s assessed is whether or not more content is utilized than what is actually needed. The fourth is the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. For the fourth factor, the focus is on the works impact on the traditional market of the orignal work (2020).
Copyright and fair use can be confusing at times. What has helped to alleviate some of the stress that goes into what we can use comes in the form of Creative Common License (CC license). When we think of copyrighted information students and teachers can use, this is the best route to travel. The great thing about CC license is that users don’t have to negotiate terms for the license or pay for use of the work. Through this license the copyright holder agrees to share their work for free. There are four (4) main CC licenses. These are Attribution (CC BY), Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA), Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND), and Attribution-Non Commercial (CC BY-NC). All of these licenses have terms and conditions. The Attribution is the most basic license, but still requires providing proper attribution to the authors, a copyright notice and a link to the license agreement. The four basic attributions are title, author, source and license. This is a minimum, because each license may have their own additional requirements. With this said, the CC license provides a great way for teachers and students alike to use copyrighted content without the formal approval of copyright holders.
Resources
Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines. (2020, July 8). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/copyright.cfm
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