This week, we learned about a subject that is going to be helpful to everyone. Copyrighting is a very serious matter, and can be taught to anybody at any age. Copyrights protect the rights of authors and their original works. If they do not want anybody stealing or reproducing their work, they can make it illegal for someone to do so. Creators of the original work have full control over what happens with it. They are protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Code, and according to the presentation Introduction to Copyright, if any laws are broken, fees up to $100,000 must be paid. Works that can be copyrighted consist of tangible or creative pieces like literature, videos, music, pictures, etc. On the other hand, works that cannot be copyrighted consist of works that have not been fixed, written, or recorded in tangible form. Examples could be slogans, titles, names, ideas, ingredients, etc. A lot of work is considered “public domain,” which people can use freely. Many times work becomes public domain if the copyright expires. Other reasons for work being in the public domain are that the authors never got a copyright, or the work could be from the U.S. government. You need to be extremely careful when using other peoples work because if you do not look to see if it is copyrighted, you could get in trouble. There are different ways to find out if something is copyrighted or not. Start out by looking for the creators of the work. If the work is original, it is most likely copyrighted, and if it government work it is not. The best thing to do is ask the author. If it is copyrighted, asking the author will allow you to do what you want with the piece, as long as the author said it is okay.
Another subject that we learned about is the Fair Use Act, which sets limitations on copyrights. It states that with some works, reproduction is considered fair. Different instances could be teaching, news reporting, or commenting. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, there are four factors that can help determine whether a use of work is fair or not. In a song we listened to this week called User’s Rights, Section 107, the singer asks the question “How will I know when fair use applies to my situation?” and then it gives the four factors: the nature of the use, the purpose of the use, the amount of the use, and the effect on potential markets. If you make sure that any of these four factors are being used in your reproduction then you are not breaking a copyright law.
I found this video on YouTube.com that was about the Copyright Law and the Fair Use Act. It is a bunch of Disney movie clips that explain exactly what we learned this week. The title of it, A Fair(y) Use Tale, is very cute because it mixes the Disney aspect and the copyright aspect. The video is split up into five chapters: copyright definition, what things can be copyrighted, copyright duration & the public domain, fair use, and why use Disney cartoons. This 10 minute video tells you all of the information you need to know about copyrights and fair use. In the last chapter, why use Disney cartoons, they say that the Disney company takes copyrights seriously because without it their movies and ideas could be stolen, as many other authors, composers, and directors would agree.
Copyrights are going to be a huge subject for me when I become a teacher. I am going to have to watch myself as well as my students. Teachers can easily copy the work of others in ways that may not be legal, and students certainly can too. A lot of what I remember from school is all of my teachers telling me not to plagiarize. In the past it was not so easy to catch, but now with the improvement in technology and the internet, there are tons of websites that will catch students plagiarizing. All teachers need to do is enter in the students work, and the original copies will show up. As a teacher, I do not want to see my students copying other peoples work. I want to see them succeed on their own. Instilling the ideas that stealing is wrong will help children, not only in school, but in life as well. Kids go to school to learn things for the future, and copyright laws will always come up in the future. Whether it is for a college paper, or a presentation at work, people always have to be careful with what other author’s works they are using. The job of the elementary school teacher is to make sure children understand this concept, so that way they will stay out of trouble in the future.
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