Technology+Report

Copyright and Fair Use By: Michelle Pittman On a daily basis teachers are creating lessons that utilize a vast amount of information including multimedia and interactive presentations using copyrighted material. Beyond this students are also assigned to create their own multimedia projects that integrate various copyrighted materials. Because of the common use of intellectual property created by other people it is important for teacher to understand basic copyright laws and fair use in the classroom.

“ According to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, ‘The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors...but encourage others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work.’” (Davidson, 2002) Utilizing this ideology by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner and understanding the copyright and fair use allows educators a certain amount of freedom to create interactive, multimedia lessons for classroom use without fear of copyright infringement. It is important to note however according to the U.S. Copyright Office, “ The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.” (2009)

Copyright protects a creator’s intellectual property, but only in the form of their creations. Copyright does not protect ideas or facts. What fair use does is it allows non-profit organizations, specifically educational institutions, to use copyrighted materials in limited circumstances without payment to the author of the original work. The 1976 Copyright Act outlines four basic guidelines to fair use of a product such that; 1)The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, 2) the nature of the copyrighted work, 3)the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, 4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work;” are considered. (US Copyright Office, 2009)

A great place for educators to interactively learn more about copyright and fair use is an online game called “A Visit to Copyright Bay.” This game allows professionals, or older students to walk through a basic lesson on copyright then quiz on the material, otherwise it may be easiest to view the “Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia.” These ideas were developed at The Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) in 1997 and have been posted for view by the University of Texas System. These guidelines provided a more detailed look at the framework provided by the Copyright Act of 1976. Specifically, teachers and students may use copyrighted material, but they “ are subject to the Time, Portion, Copying and Distribution Limitations.” (UT, 2001) Under these guidelines only 10% of the creators work can be used, or depending on the length of the overall material there are more specific guidelines, and teacher may only use copyrighted materials in a presentation for two years after the date of first instructional use. (UT, 2001)

While the fair use guidelines created by CONFU give educators an understanding of where copyrighted material maybe used freely, it is important to remember the saying “give credit where credit is due.” Students and educators must acknowledge all copyrighted materials in both the bibliography of the presentation as well as anywhere the original work is shown (when possible). Also, copies may not be distributed unless for archival or classroom use unless appropriate copyright licenses are purchased.

Agnew, J., Gummess, G., Hudson, M. (February 2003). //A Visit to Copyright Bay//. Retrieved from: [] Davidson, H. (June 2005). //Copyright Primer for Administrators//. Technology and Learning.

Davidson, H. (October 2002). //The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use//. Technology and Learning. Retrieved from: [] University of Texas System. (August, 2001). //Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia//. Retrieved from: [] US Copyright Office. (May 2009). //Copyright/Fair Use//. Retrieved from: []