Copyright 101

The article Copyright 101 speaks to two policies; copyright and fair use. The author defines copyright as it “protects original works including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as novels, poetry, songs, motion pictures, computer software, and architectural works. In essence, copyright protection goes into effect as soon as an original work is fixed in a tangible form of expression. The copyright in the work immediately becomes the property of the author”. The article defines fair use as “a copyrighted work can be used or copied for educational purposes as long as the use is not solely a substitute for purchasing the work”. The article also provides some basic examples of fair use in schools.

This article was not very helpful, and to be truthful it was also kind of lame. Although the article included examples of what teachers are and are not allowed to do, the examples were common sense. We all know teachers are allowed to copy an article from a journal and distribute a copy to their class. The example that really bothered me was,” A teacher wishes to use a very expensive textbook for his or her class. Due to the high cost, the teacher makes copies of the entire book for class distribution.” Come on! To think any real educator would do this is down right insulting.