THE

COPYRIGHT
CONUNDRUM

th
Mr. Ricks 11 Grade English Class
 What is Copyright is the exclusive legal right, given to an originator
or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record

copyright? literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others

to do the same

In other words, it is illegal for someone to copy your work
without permission
Works written on or after January 1, 1978 are protected for
the lifetime of the author/creator and for 70 years after his or
her death
Copyright occurs as soon as a work is created. It does not
need the copyright sign to be protected.
 So what? Would it upset you if someone claimed your work as
their own?

Why do I Copyright allows for the safe, legal, and responsible

use of information and technology

need to As the creator of a work, you should have the right to

know this?
control what people can and cannot do with your
original work
Many authors/creators do not get paid for their work
when it is copied
Copyright is a matter of digital citizenship
If you infringe on copyright, you are not practicing
digital citizenship
 ISTE Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural,
and societal issues related to technology and practice

Standards, legal and ethical behavior

5a: Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible

NETS, and use of information and technology

5c: demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong
Why it learning

Matters 5d: exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

6a: understand and use technology systems
Copyright Not Copyright
Books Works that consist of highly available
Newspapers
information
Brochures
Oral Presentations Calendars
Music and Movies Lists
Drawings
Paintings Tables
Buildings Works from Government Websites
Sculptures
Designs
Photographs
Computer Programs
 What is Fair Use allows limited copying of copyrighted works
for educational purposes

Fair Use? This is why you may see photocopied handouts of

textbooks in your classes, why teachers are able to
assign you worksheets they did not create, and why
teachers are able to show video clips in class
However, you should still give credit to the original
author of the work. This can be done through a works
cited page or sources page
Fair Use DOES NOT mean you can copy from a work
and put it into your own paper! That is plagiarism!
Plagiarism: when a student uses someone elses
ideas/words in their work and claims that the words are
his or her own
 Rules of Audio: Teachers/students can copy portions of
recordings for academic purposes other than

copyright
performances as long as the portion used is limited to
10 percent and no more than 30 seconds

and how it
Video:You can use videotapes and movies for
instruction, but if you want to show them longer,

affects
someone generally has to pay for them
Multimedia: These include CDs, books, the Internet,

media
and other sources. These cannot be distributed outside
the classroom settings for nonacademic purposes

presentation Internet: Taking things off the internet and using them
in projects is fine, but posting them back online as your
own image/work is not. As Hall Davidson states in his
article, You might say it's like the difference between
cutting things out of the newspaper and making copies
of the paper to resell."
Sources International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE)
www.copyright.gov
www.cyberbee.com/cb_copyright.swf
The Educators' Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to Fair Use
by David Hall