Copyright vs. Copy Sharing

EDTC 603: Web DevelopmentResearch Project 6.1

Betty HusteadFebruary 15, 2011

History of Copyright• First federal copyright law created May, 1790• Claims recorded by U.S. district courts• Library of Congress centralized copyright

functions– in 1870– Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford oversaw

copyright functions– Copyright department created in 1897– Thorvald Solberg first Register of Copyrights

Important Dates in the History of Copyright

• February 3, 1831 – Music added to protection, Term of protection moved to 28 years from 14 years.

• August 18, 1856 – Dramatic compostions added to protection

• March 3, 1865 – Photographs and negatives added to protection

• July 8, 1870 – Art added to protection and indexing started

• August 24, 1912 – Motion pictures added to protection• January 1, 1978 – term of protection consists of the life

of the author plus 50 years.

Important Date in Copyright History Continued

• December 12, 1980 – computer programs protected• December 1, 1990 – architectural works protected• October 28, 1992 – Digital Audio Home Recording Act

imposed royalties, clarified legality of home taping of analog and digital sound for private use.

• October 27, 1998 – term extension to author’s life plus 70 years

• November 2, 2002 – TEACH Act, use of copyrighted works for nonprofit educational institutions in distance education

Current Copyright

• Copyright office employs 475 people• Half a million copyright claims per year• Since 1870, registered 33,654,000 copyright

claims• July 1, 2008 – electronic registration made

available to the public

(http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1a.html#, 2011)

Copyright

• Purpose: To promote creativity, innovation, and the spread of knowledge while considering the rights of the owners and the rights of the users.

• From the creator’s point of view, copyright laws are designed to protect the creator’s work. No one else can sell their work.

• Artistic productions and paperwork remain the property of the creator.

Copyright and the Internet

The internet has drastically changed how people think about copyright. *most students feel internet information is all free and available to use* reality is, nearly everything on the Net is protected by copyright law

Copyright and Art• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/ap-accuses-shepard-

fairey_n_164045.html

• Copyright infringement? Fair use? Share?

Copyright and Art• If the artist puts their work on the internet, is it fair

game for people to use?• If the artist puts their work on a shared service,

creative commons for example, is it fair game to use?• If a person changes an artist’s original work but it is

still recognizable, is it still the artist’s property?• If the original work is no longer recognizable is it the

original artist’s property or the new artist’s property?• If the artist is deceased, who owns the art? (Public,

museum, family, ?)

Fair Use (from copyright law)

• According to the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy...

Teachers can:

1. make copies of newspaper articles, TV shows, and other copyrighted works and use them and keep them for educational use

2. create curriculum materials and scholarship with copyrighted materials embedded

3. share, sell and distribute curriculum materials with copyrighted materials embedded

(http://copyrightconfusion.wikispaces.com/, 2011)

Section 107's four-factor fair use test...(American Library Association, 2011)

1.The character of the use (education purposes)

2.The nature of the work to be used (character of the materials)

3.The amount used (of the original work)

4.The effect of the use on the market for or value of the work (access during class only)

What needs to be evaluated

Did the unlicensed use “transform” the material taken from the copyrighted work by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, or did it just repeat the work for the same intent and value as the original?

Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use?

Copy SharingCreative needs and practices change within the

field of use, with ever changing technology, and with the amount of time.

New technology makes it easy to distribute, recreate, share, and duplicate owner’s work.

Copy share allows repurposing the original work into a new product, not duplicating for profit.

Copy Share

Licenses• Creative Commons licenses provide simple, standardized alternatives

to the “all rights reserved” paradigm of traditional copyright.Creative Commons Mission• Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and

technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

(http://creativecommons.org/)

Future Issues• When copyright was created, the purpose and

process was effective. With the emergence of the Internet, normal every day tasks would be considered copyright issues, such as copy, paste, and post to the web.

• The copyright law requires permission for all of these actions no matter who you are or how you are using the material.

• This process needs to change along with the times.

Fair Use Limitations

• Currently no fair use guidelines for latest digital technologies

• Publishers retain the right to work produced for their company (author not protected)

• Creative commons licenses restricted by publishers

• Teachers are expected to educate students on appropriate copyright standard uses.

Opinion• After researching copyright vs. copy sharing, I

feel the law needs to evolve with the advanced technologies that are now available.

• I do feel the government has tried to keep up with the changes they have made to the law, but it is impossible to make laws as fast as technology changes.

• The Fair Use portion of the law is open enough, that it does work fairly well.

Opinion continued

• Creative Commons was created in 2001 and has effectively created copyright licenses for free through the Center for the Public Domain.

• They have worked to create a global infrastructure for sharing public domain tools, technologies, and more.

• In order to allow creative processes to flourish, people need to be able to bounce ideas and new information off each other. This is the way of the future.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?• Both copyright and copy share should coexist

because they both serve a different purpose.• For creators who want to share their work

with the world for free or with limited copyright, they can choose a copy share or creative commons license.

• For creators who want to maintain all copyright privileges, they can choose to keep the traditional copyright.

ConclusionThere was a time for just the copyright law of the U.S.

Library of Congress. Now, is the time for an additional option, sharing

works. In order for this to work, people still need to follow

the: Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Four Factors Fair Use Test tools and licensing available on Creative Commons.

Conclusion continued

As teachers, the creative commons and fair use section of the copyright law are the best options.

Educators do not have the money or time to create their own, when showing examples of work for understanding and sharing what is available makes more sense.

BibliographyAbout creative commons. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2011, from creative

commons website: http://creativecommons.org/ about/Copyright basics. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2011, from United States

Copyright Office website: http://www.copyright.gov/ circs/ circ01.pdfCopyright - fair use. (2009, November). Retrieved February, 2011, from

United States Copyright Office website: http://www.copyright.gov/ fls/ fl102.html

Fair use for media literacy educators. (2011). Retrieved February, 2011, from American University website: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ fair-use

Italie, H. (2009, February 4). AP accuses Obama artist Shepard Fairey of copyright infringement [The huffington post]. Retrieved February, 2011, from Huff post politics website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2009/ 02/ 04/ ap-accuses-shepard-fairey_n_164045.html

Bibliography continued

Nash, S. (2009, February 2). The educational remix- at odds with copyright? Retrieved February, 2011, from http://nashworld.edublogs.org/ 2009/ 02/ 02/ the-educational-remix-at-odds-with-copyright/

Riley, F. (2010, September 17). Image repositories for e-Learning. Retrieved February, 2011, from The University of Nottingham website: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ nmp/ sonet/ resources/ image_repositories.html#Wikipedia: Public domain image resources

Section 107’s four-factor fair use test... (2011). Fair use and electronic reserves. Retrieved February, 2011, from American Library Association website: http://www.ala.org/ ala/ issuesadvocacy/ copyright/ fairuse/ fairuseandelectronicreserves/ index.cfm

Bibliography continued

Section 1. Understanding copyright. (2009). Retrieved February, 2011, from Temple University website: http://mediaeducationlab.com/ section-1-understanding-copyright

Spinello, R. A., & Tavani, H. T. (2005). Recent copyright protection schemes: Implications for sharing digital information. In Intellectual property rights in a networked world: Theory and practice (chap. 7). Retrieved from http://library.books24x7.com.dml.regis.edu/ book/ id_8539/ viewer.asp?bookid=8539&chunkid=479221667

Taking the mystery out of copyright. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2011, from The Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/ teachers/ copyrightmystery/ #

Website copyright. (2010). Retrieved February, 2010, from http://www.benedict.com