Lesson 15
Nancy Donaldson

In my job this year I had to make a presentation to area teachers and administrators on copyright issues and fair use guidelines for multimedia in education so I have done extensive research on this topic. Because this is such a complex topic, I still find that I must review the material again before making a presentation. The following statement from Lesson 15 in this course makes this same point:

As an educational professional working in the field of distance learning and educational telecommunications, you cannot possibly know every rule and regulation, statute and/or legal interpretation dealing with copyright and intellectual property concerns. Thus, you need to develop a network of people and places with whom you can consult on the topic. (COMM5350a, Lesson 15, p. 5)

One thing I learned from my research and from reviewing the reading materials and web sites for Lesson 15, is technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that laws concerning copyright issues are outdated by the time they can be passed. Such was the case with Public Law 106-379--Work Made For Hire and Copyright Corrections Act of 2000, signed by the President on 10/27/00.

The most significant concept to convey to educators is the importance of abiding by the Copyright Law of 1976 (and its amendments) and the Fair Use Guidelines for Multimedia. This is imperative for all teachers and students, whether in a traditional classroom setting or in an online, distance education situation.

As an introduction to the concepts of copyright and fair use, I present the following PowerPoint slide show by Charlie Pitrolo that is available on the World School web site under the PowerPoint Presentations by Teachers link: http://www.wvaworldschool.org/html/lesson/powerpoint/fairuse/index.htm

Then I developed the following list of online resources for use during my presentation. When I read through Lesson 15, I noticed that Georgia Harper's information about intellectual property issues was included in the reading materials. I have been using this site as a resource since last fall so I was pleased to see it listed in the materials for Lesson 15. However, Dr. Robert Beck's Copyright and Cyberspace site was new to me and so I have included it at the end of my list for use in future presentations.

o Copyright Law of 1976, especially Section 107 (Fair Use)
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright

o Fair Use Guidelines for Multimedia
http://www.tifb.state.tx.us/training/fairuse.htm

o Crash course on the Copyright Law - University of Texas
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/copypol.htm

o Copyright for Educators
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/copy.htm

o Fair Use of Copyrighted Works
http://www.cetus.org/fairindex.html

o Copyright and Fair Use
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

o The Copyright Website
http://www.benedict.com

o American Bar Association -(Intellectual Property)
http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/comm106/106copy.html

o Copyright and Cyberspace - Dr. Robert J. Beck, Tufts University
http://ase.tufts.edu/cte/occasional_papers/copyright.htm

Another activity I use for my presentations is the following Copyright Quiz that I adapted from the TIF Tech Training materials on the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board web site. At first, I had planned on having participants complete the quiz on their own or in teams, using the above web sites to find answers. But after I tried to answer the quiz myself, I knew that finding the answers would be a long and tedious task, given the complexity of the information concerning copyright and fair use. Therefore, I included specific web addresses for each question in the quiz to point my participants to the answers. I even included hints for searching for the answers at each site (see #3 below). The quiz is shown below and I have added in answers to each question.

1. What does a copyright protect? What does it not protect?
http://www.benedict.com/basic/basic/notice.htm

Copyright protects expression. The Copyright Act of 1976 states that the items of expression can include literary, dramatic, and musical works; pantomimes and choreography; pictorial, graphic and sculptural works; audio-visual works; sound recordings; and architectural works. An original expression is eligible for copyright protection as soon as it is fixed in a tangible form. It does not protect:
§ Ideas
§ Facts
§ Titles
§ Names
§ Short phrases
§ Blank forms

2. The Berne Convention in 1989 eliminated the necessity of placing the copyright notice on every work; however, it is still wise so to do. What are the four elements of the copyright notice?
http://www.benedict.com/basic/basic/notice.htm

1) the copyright symbol (and/or the term "Copyright")
2) the year of copyright
3) the name of the copyright holder
4) the phrase "All Rights Reserved"

3. How long does a copyright last?
http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/comm106/106copy.html

(use Ctrl F to find the word "endures" to quickly locate this answer)

Works Originally Created On or After January 1, 1978

A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation, and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 50 years after the author's death. In the case of "a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire," the term lasts for 50 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Works Originally Created Before January 1, 1978, But Not Published or Registered by That Date

Works that were created but not published or registered for copyright before January 1, 1978, have been automatically brought under the statute and are now given Federal copyright protection. The duration of copyright in these works will generally be computed in the same way as for works created on or after January 1, 1978: the life-plus-50 or 75/100-year terms will apply to them as well. The law provides that in no case will the term of copyright for works in this category expire before December 31, 2002, and for works published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright will not expire before December 31, 2027.

Works Originally Created and Published or Registered Before January 1, 1978

Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the date a work was published or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for renewal. The current copyright law has extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for copyrights that were subsisting on January 1, 1978, making these works eligible for a total term of protection of 75 years.

Public Law 102-307, enacted on June 26, 1992, amended the Copyright Act of 1976 to extend automatically the term of copyrights secured from January 1, 1964, through December 31, 1977 to the further term of 47 years and increased the filing fee from $12 to $20. This fee increase applies to all renewal applications filed on or after June 29, 1992.

P.L. 102-307 makes renewal registration optional. There is no need to make the renewal filing in order to extend the original 28-year copyright term to the full 75 years. However, some benefits accrue to making a renewal registration during the 28th year of the original term.

4. Regarding World Wide Web issues and according to the
http://www.benedict.com/digital/www/webiss.htm website, to whom can you link?

A link is a URL, a fact not unlike a street address, and is therefore not copyrightable. However, a list may be copyrightable under a compilation copyright if it contains some originality.

5. What is Fair Use and describe the Fair Use Test?
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/copypol2.htm#test