UNDERSTANDING COPYRIGHT

OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
BY: MR. CLINT PARKER
LETS TALK ABOUT JAN…..

Jan is a 5th grade teacher who is

wanting her students to learn about
the Greatness of Tiger Woods. She
finds articles and even purchases
an online book for her students to
read. She post it in her google
classroom for her different classes
to read and write a report on it.
Did she infringe on the copyright
of the book and articles?
FIRST…..WHAT IS
COPYRIGHT?
Google Definition:
The exclusive legal right, given to an
originator or an assignee to print,
publish, perform, film, or record
literary, artistic, or musical material,
and to authorize others to do the same.
In Simple Terms: This Photo b Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

If you make/ create the product you have

the power to say who can copy or reproduce
the content.
LETS TALK ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION…..

• The constitution is designed to

protect free speech, but someone
”Intellectual Property” is still
protected.
• Ultimately this is what congress came
up with… “The Congress shall have
Power . . . to promote the Progress of
Science and useful Arts, by securing
for limited Times to Authors and
Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries.”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
SO IN SHORT WE ARE SAYING….

• What you CAN’T do…

• to perform the work publicly;
• to display the work publicly;
• to create derivative works; that is,
to create new works based closely on
the original, such as a translation of
a book from one language into another,
or making a book into a movie.
• distribute copies of the work to the
public by sale or other transfer of
ownership, or by rental, lease, or So how can I use anything that is
lending;
copyrighted?
UNDERSTANDING FAIR USE

• Fair Use was designed to help people use copyrighted material to

help with better society.
• “As the United States economy becomes increasingly knowledge-based,
the concept of fair use can no longer be discussed and legislated in
the abstract. It is the very foundation of the digital age and a
cornerstone of our economy.” Quote from the president of the Computer
& Communication Industry Association (CCIA)

• With proper referencing and recognition you can use a piece of

copyrighted material to gain “knowledge” to use for your report,
project, or paper.
EXAMPLES OF
FAIR USE:
•Copy Right Act of 1976
states that under fair use
copyrighted material can be
used to:
• criticism
• comment
• news reporting
• teaching (including
multiple copies for
classroom use)
• scholarship, or research
LET’S REVISIT JAN…SCENARIO #1
• So revisiting her story Jan bought the
electronic book about Tiger Woods and
shared it with her students on their
learning platform. Is this an
infringement, yes or no.
• Yes she did infringe on the owners work.
The first sale of a book, movie, or article
doesn’t give the right to redistribute
multiple copies. It takes away possible
profit for the author.
SCENARIO #2…. DJ TEACH
• DJ Teach is want to do a Facebook Live
for his fans for about an hour. He did buy
the music on his iTunes account so he
feels that he owns it. He will stream it on
Facebook live so he won’t be profiting
any money. Does he have the right to
stream the music?
• This again is an infringement on the
makers of the music. Even if DJ Teach
bought the Music, he can’t stream it
because it could cause financial loss to
the artist. When DJ Teach goes to the
club to play it is the responsibility of the
venue to have a license to play the
music.
SCENARIO #3……DATA COLLECTION

• Students were asked to go online and
read an article about butterflies. They
were asked to collect the data from the
work of a renowned Butterfly Scientist.
The students use the data to write a
report to present to their class. Did they
infringe on copyright of the scientist
article?
• So in this case the students are in the
clear. As long as they are only using the
data the scientist collected and they are
using their own material, they are in the
clear thanks to the Fair Use.
IN CLOSING…

• Copyright was designed to protect

everyone’s intellectual property.
• Fair Use is available to use if you use it
properly and credit your resource.
• And remember…It is a LAW. 
RESOURCE PAGE:

Hobbs, R., Donnelly, K. & Braman, S. (2008). Teaching about Copyright and Fair Use for
Media Literacy Education. [Multimedia curriculum.] Available online at:
http://mediaeducationlab.com
copyrightclear. “Copyright on Campus.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Feb. 2011,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UWaQK5Wbvs.