Copyright

Prof P. Charles Livermore718 990 5330

CopyrightConstitution of the United StatesArticle 1 Section 8

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

Introduction

• Copyright What are your rights • Exceptions to copyright.• Protections under copyright• Length of copyright protection

Note: This presentation is for information purposes only – it should not be construed as offering legal advice.

So What is copyright?

Copyright is the law that protects

your work from being copied and reproduced

without your permission.

How does copyright work?

Copyright is a set of Exclusive rights given to an author or creator.

- Rights -Only the copyright holder

1. Can copy 2. Can create derivatives 3. Can distribute copies 4. Can perform

And these rights are not bound together. Each can be treated separately.

What can you do with these rights.

Sell themLease themRent them

Give them away

But once you have given up your copyright the material you created is no longer yours to use except with the permission of the entity which now owns the copyright.

So negotiate your contract wisely.

When is an item copyrighted?A work is copyrighted the moment it is put in some kind of physical form. It is not necessary to formally file your creation with the Copyright Office. Note – Ideas are not copyrightable.

Advantages of Formal Filing with the Copyright Office.

1. Must be formally registered to litigate a copyright violation.

2. Formal registration within three months opens the door to the recovery of statutory damages and attorneys’ fees versus only the ability of recovering actual damages. (which can be difficult to prove)

3. If registration is accomplished within 5 years of copyright creation and/or publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright.

4. Prompt registration of your copyright, coupled with providing the world with proper notice of the copyright will enhance your ability to argue that an infringer’s use of your work was willful, opening the door to a punitive damages award.

Not everything that is put to paper, or other physical media, is copyright protected!

It must be an original creation.

Take a look at a list of U.S. Presidents.

http://www.american-history-fun-facts.com/list-of-us-presidents.html

FAIR USE DOCTRINEChap 17 Section 107

This is the portion of the law that sets forth the conditions under which you can use copyrighted materials without receiving permission.

Fair Use is not an exception to the law. Fair use is a defense against an accusation of copyright violation.

This means that there is no risk-free use of copyright materials. In academia the risk has proven to be low – but faculty members have been sued for use of copyrighted materials.

FAIR USE DOCTRINEThe following considerations are used by judges in determining whether use of copyrighted material without permission is within FAIR USE.

1. PURPOSE: Non-profit & educational uses support FAIR USE.

2. NATURE: Factual, nonfiction works more likely to fall within FAIR USE Non-fiction materials fall more narrowly into FAIR USE

3. AMOUNT: The smaller the better.

4. EFFECT: If use competes with the market place - hard to justify FAIR USE. Does your use negatively affect the sale of the item you are using?

REMEMBER: Fair use is NOT an exception to the law – it is used as a defense should you be accused of violating the copyright of another person.

Students and Copyright

• For the completion of class assignments students appear to have great latitude under FAIR USE.– It’s educational and not-for-profit– They are likely to use small portions of any work

being discussed– Their impact on the market is likely to be close to

zero.

Motion Pictures§ 110 Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain performances and displays

• Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:

• performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction

As a teacher what are the risks of placing items on Library reserves:

a book you or the library owns - (little risk)a photocopy of a whole book (high risk)links to articles in library databases (little risk)items to which you own the copyright (no risk)

a photocopy of an article from a journal or magazine or newspaper. (under limited conditions) (little risk)photocopy of a small portion of a book (little risk)

Completing the Fair Use Questionnaire found at: http://campusguides.stjohns.edu/copyright

will help you to determine if your use of copyrighted material is within Fair Use guidelines.

To minimize riskKeep the copyrighted material you are using for

your classes password protected

Blackboard ----- eReservesTwo good tools to use for this purpose

Both require passwords

HOWEVERMany classes encourage the use of electronic media to create a student portfolio.

ePortfolios --- websites

If a student’s ePortfolio, website or other use is made available to the public it may no longer be covered under fair use guidelines or other exemptions.

When making copyrighted materials accessible to the public the student should examine each use of a copyrighted item to determine if its public display falls within a legitimate use of copyrighted material.

Citations/Footnotes

The use of footnotes or giving attribution to the creator of a copyrighted work does NOT equal compliance with copyright law. They are separate and distinct.

A Student’s Own WorkIs copyrighted and has the same copyright protections as any copyrighted work.

If you wish to use a student’s work beyond grading it you need to seek permission of the student.

If you wish to display it, use it as a good or bad example seek the permission of the student before using the work.

The next slide shows a permission form that is available at: http://campusguides.stjohns.edu/copyright

STUDENT PERMISSION AND WAIVER FORM

Because under the copyright law of the United States (Title 17 of the U.S. Code) all authors of original expression, including students, hold a copyright in their expression immediately upon its “fixation,” and Because the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 establishes the rights of students with regard to educational records, making provision for inspection, review and amendment of educational records by the students and requiring, in most instances, prior consent from the student for disclosure of such records to third parties.

This waiver and permission form is designed to make it possible for the educational project described below to use specific work(s) created by ____________________________________, a student at St. John’s University.

WAIVER AND PERMISSION FORM I, the undersigned student (or parent/guardian if the student is under 18 years of age) understand that St. John’s University would like to use [insert brief but specific description of the work]

I created while a student as part of the following project: [describe the project, include how the works that make up the project will be accessed and by whom]

I further understand that I hold the copyright in this work that I created, and also that I have the right, under the FERPA law, to prevent its release to third parties. In order to participate in the project described above, I hereby

_____Grant a non-exclusive license to St. John’s University to reproduce and distribute my copyrighted work as part of the project. This permission includes the right to modify my work to conform to the goals of the project and to reformat it as necessary to preserve its perceptibility and usefulness.

_____ Consent to the disclosure of the work described above, as an educational record subject to FERPA privacy protection, to any and all third parties who may use the project throughout the life of the project.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________ Student name (please print) Signature of student OR parent/guardian Date

adapted from the Student Permission form - copyright Kevin Smith, Lisa A. Macklin, Anne Gilliland and used under a Creative Commons Attribution/Share-alike license (CC bySA)

Violation of Copyright• A high school student named Joel Tenebaum used Napster to download songs –

lots of them. • When Napster was shutdown Tenebaum moved on to other similar sites. • He went on to college and continued to upload and download thousands of

songs. • Sony discovered him - gave him warning to stop - he ignored the warning. • Sony took Mr. Tenebaum to court for 30 songs he downloaded. • The jury returned a judgment of $675,000 against Tenebaum. • $22,500 per song• The U.S. Copyright Act, at 17 U.S.C. 504(c) and on, provides awards ranging from

$750 to $150,000 for each instance of willful copyright infringement. • In September 2011 this judgment amount was upheld.

• (http://timothycornellesq.wordpress.com/ )

http://creativecommons.org/

With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify

For More Information

http://campusguides.stjohns.edu/copyright

or callProf P. Charles Livermore

718 990 5330livermop@stjohns.edu