Important note: While this document has not been updated for quite some time, it is being reposted out of popular demand. Some of the links mentioned are no longer active and there are no plans to update this document. [June 3, 2001]
NOTE TO OUR CANADIAN VISITORS: This document is based on current United States law and accepted policy. For a good resource on this issue from a Canadian perspective, check out the Statement on Copyright (http://www.cmec.ca/copyrght/copyrght.htm) from the Council of Ministers of Education.
TABLE of CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Copyright, Internet, and Education
- Accepted standards in a nutshell
- How to cite an Internet resource
- Related online links
1. INTRODUCTION
Return to TOP
I am NOT an attorney -- just a frustrated educator. Ever since the beginning of my teaching career, I haven't given much thought to copyright issues. "Hey, it's for the kids!", was my justification for not paying attention to what I was duplicating: whether it was materials for the classroom, research for myself, or an article for a colleague, it never seemed too important.Well, times have changed.
Schools and organizations have been sued. Internet and CD-ROM technology have made access to information incredibly simple -- and just as simple to duplicate, or even alter and illegally place on the Internet in another form.
All this has made me increasingly concerned about this issue. So much so that I decided to seek out more information. This document is the result of that quest.
As I undertook this research, it was quickly evident that there are no firm legal binding guidelines. Slowly, however, they are being developed. In writing this document, I hope to simplify current legislation and accepted policy, as well as point educators to other helpful resources about this issue on the Internet.
Finally, it should be noted that I am not a lawyer (I don't even play one on TV!). If you have questions about copyright law and liabilities, please contact an attorney. The following information is provided as a service only and should not be construed as legal advise.
Happy Cruising!
Phil Reinhardt
prr@mac.com
2. COPYRIGHT, INTERNET and EDUCATION
Return to TOP
With the popularity of the Internet, educators are faced with more complex challenges when it comes to understanding and following the proper rules for reproducing and citing information we use in the classroom and for personal use.WHAT LAWS EXIST?
The foundation of our current U.S. copyright law comes from the Copyright Act of 1976. This gave copyright holders the exclusive rights to reproduction and distribution of their works.
Part of this 1976 law vaguely addressed the issue of "Fair Use", exceptions given for educational purposes. Unfortunately, there were no set guidelines for exactly what students, teachers and scholars could and could not do.
GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED
With only rough standards provided by the 1976 law, a consortium of educators, authors and publishers got together to establish more practical and understandable guidelines. In 1996, twenty years after the original legislation, the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) set out to address the many technological advances that had occurred since the original Copyright Act.
Their document, The Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/avs/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html>, established a set of guidelines that are as close to any standard we have today. A process years in the making, future plans call for this document to be officially added to the Copyright Act.
It should be noted, however, that despite these widely accepted guidelines, there is legally no change from the Copyright Act of 1976. In the words of the Nonlegislative Report of the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, September 27, 1996 (the opening portion of Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia):
"These guidelines do not represent a legal document, nor are they legally binding.""They grant a relative degree of certainty that a use within the guidelines will not be perceived as an infringement of the Copyright Act..."
(Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia. Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines Development Committee. [Online] Available http://www.libraries.psu.edu/avs/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html, July 17, 1996.)
BOTTOM LINE
Just as we are responsible for attributing traditional resources such as magazines, books and newspapers, information found on the Internet must be properly cited. This has not changed.
Another accepted notion is that students and educators do receive special privilege, for educational purposes, under the "Fair Use" portion of the Copyright Act of 1976 -- however, exactly what is covered remains unclear.
In spite of no complete legal definition being in existence, the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia is recognized by many publishers, scholars and other copyright holders as the most thorough standard yet. Following are some of the more significant standards laid out by the document.
3. ACCEPTED STANDARDS in a NUTSHELL
Return to TOP
The following is a summary of the basic guidelines of Fair Use outlined in the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia.
I. Properly cite resources drawn from the Internet and other online services.
II. Be aware of the accepted "portion limitations" -- just how much of a copyrighted work can be used and still fall within accepted Fair Use guidelines.
The following standards are limited to individual projects for the period of an academic semester or term.
TYPE OF MEDIA |
PORTION LIMITATION |
Motion Media |
Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, of a single copyrighted motion media work |
Text |
Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, of a single copyrighted work |
Poems (text) |
An entire poem of
less than 250 words: no more than three poems by one poet,
or five poems by different poets from a single anthology
|
Music, Lyrics, and Music Video
|
Up to 10%, but not more than 30 seconds of music and lyrics from an individual musical work; Any alterations to a musical work shall not change the basic melody or the fundamental character of the work |
Illustrations and Photographs
|
A photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety. No more than 5 images by an artist or photographer. Not more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less, from a single published collected work |
Numerical Data
Sets
|
Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted database or data table; A field entry is defined as a specific item of information, such as a name or Social Security number, in a record of a database file. A cell entry is defined as the intersection where a row and a column meet on a spreadsheet. |
Copying and Distribution Limitations |
Only a limited
number of copies, including the original, may be made of an
educator's educational multimedia project.
|
III. Understand when permission is required:
- When copyrighted works used in educational multimedia projects are in turn used for commercial reproduction and distribution
- When duplication of Multimedia Project goes beyond the limitations set by these guidelines
- Even for educational uses, educators and students must seek individual permissions for all copyrighted works incorporated in their personally created educational multimedia projects before replicating or distributing beyond the Copying and Distribution Limitations
IV. Other acceptable uses under Fair Use
Educator Use for Peer Conferences:Educators may perform or display their own multimedia projects created under these guidelines in presentations to their peers at workshops and conferences, etc.
Educator Use for Professional Portfolio
Educators may retain educational multimedia projects created in their personal portfolios for later personal uses such as tenure review or job interviews
V. All students should be instructed about the reasons for copyright protection and the need to follow these guidelines.
VI. Elementary educators can be even more confused by the issue with this mention in the established guidelines:
"It is understood, however, that students in kindergarten through grade six may not be able to adhere rigidly to the portion limitations in this section in their independent development of educational multimedia projects.In any event, each such project retained...should comply with the portion limitations in this section."
4. HOW TO CITE AN INTERNET RESOURCE
Return to TOP
While technology is bring us all kinds of changes in how we find and receive information, the rules for properly citing online resources don't vary much from citations from traditional media such as books and magazines.Following are some examples of the more common forms of information found on the Internet. For a more complete overview, as well as examples of several accepted styles, see some of the additional resources listed below.
Format
Author. Title. [Online] Available http://internetaddress/filename, date of document or download.Sample
Reinhardt, Phil. Copyright and Citations: What Educators Need to Know. [Online] Available http://www.technology4u.com/ton/copyright.html, November 15, 1997.
Format
Writer of E-mail message. Subject line. [Online] Available E-mail you@school.edu from ntf@pobox.com, date of document.Sample
Reinhardt, Phil. RE: Internet Citations. [Online] Available E-mail student@steds.org from phil@technology4u.com, August 16, 1997.
Format
Title or description of image. [Online Image] Available http://internetaddress/filename, date of image or download.Sample
Live image of downtown Minneapolis, MN. [Online Image] Available http://www.wcco.com/marketplace/skyview.html, August 2, 1997.
Web Extension to American Psychological Association (APA) Style - http://www.beadsland.com/weapas/Electronic Sources: Modern Language Association (MLA) Style of Citation - http://www.uvm.edu/~xli/reference/mla.html
Pitsco's Launch to Citing WWW Addresses - http://www.pitsco.inter.net/p/cite.html
Citing Electronic Resources - http://www.wilpaterson.edu/wpcpages/library/citing.htm
5. RELATED ONLINE LINKS
Return to TOP
The Copyright Website - http://www.benedict.com/
A very thorough and entertaining site.Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia - http://www.libraries.psu.edu/avs/fairuse/
From Penn State University, this is probably the most comprehensive and understandable collection of materials on this issue. Also includes a downloadable PowerPoint slide show about Fair Use.U.S. Copyright Office Home Page - http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
Get it straight from the source.Copyright Basics from U.S. Copyright Office - http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ01.html
A not-so-simple overview of a very complex issue.