COPYRIGHTLAW

D M E T 1 6 0

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

• the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.

WHO OWNS COPYRIGHT?

• a freelance artist who created the copyrighted work;

• an employer who hires employees who create copyrighted works as part of their job.

FUNDAMENTALLY, COPYRIGHT IS A LAW THAT GIVES YOU OWNERSHIP OVER THE THINGS YOU CREATE.

The ownership that copyright law grants comes with several rights that you, as the owner, have exclusively. Those rights include:• The right to reproduce the work• to prepare derivative works• to distribute copies• to perform the work• and to display the work publicly

THOSE ARE YOUR RIGHTS, AND YOUR RIGHTS ALONE!

ETHICAL CONCEPT OF COPYRIGHT• Copyright provides you with the protection of your own work, but it also

prevents you from unlawfully using someone else’s work! The respect is mutual.

BUT WHAT IF I WANT TO ALLOW OTHERS TO USE MY

WORK?!

WHAT IS CREATIVE COMMONS?

• Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) available in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing.

• You can put your work on the Creative Commons website so that it can be used freely, but you also have some options worth discussing…

NOT EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FREE ON CREATIVE COMMONS!

• There are 4 licenses that you can attain from Creative Commons and there are a number of combinations that you can make from them.

WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED UNDER COPYRIGHT?!• ideas, concepts, or discoveries; • titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; • works that are not fixed in a tangible form of expression such

as improvised speech or dance; • works consisting entirely of information that is commonly

available and contains no originality;• anything written or created by the US government.

HOWEVER…

• There are other laws that may protect these categories, for example, short phrases could have trademark protection.

BUT WAIT! ! !

What about using copyright protected materials for school?!

FAIR USE IS…

• (in US copyright law) the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.

EXAMPLES:• class handouts of very short excerpts from a book; • quoting for purposes of reporting the news or

criticizing or commenting on a particular work of art, writing, speech or scholarship.

• class studying an artist using samples to critique and analyze his/her work;

• making a collage for a school project;• manipulating an image to learn Photoshop or other

software.

WHAT IS NOT FAIR USE?• using a photograph or other image to illustrate a

newsworthy story (because the subject of the story is newsworthy it does not make the image newsworthy)

• If you want an example, when a celebrity dies, the death is newsworthy, but any photograph of them is only descriptive and must be licensed.

• However, if a famous artist’s dies, the news media could show a few samples of his or her most recognized artworks without permission.

WHAT IS INFRINGEMENT?

• use of whole or part of an image without permission;• use beyond the scope of a license;• adapting an image without permission

(art rendering, collage);• asking another photographer to recreate the image.

UNAUTHORIZED USE This image was created by a computer graphics artist who “borrowed” images from several sources.

ORIGINAL ART

These are the two images that were infringed upon to create the Newsday

cover.

CHANGE OF MEDIUM IS STILL AN INFRINGEMENT

RECREATING A PHOTO …

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

• the company that directly infringed;• employees who participated in the infringement or

should have supervised;• anyone who publishes the infringing image whether

they had knowledge or not.

HOW TO AVOID INFRINGEMENT

• obtain a license for all the uses that will be needed;• obtain a license to create a derivative (spin-off)

image;• obtain an art rendering or art reference license to

change the medium.

POPULAR COPYRIGHT MYTHS• if it’s on the internet it is in the public domain and

therefore free;• if there is no copyright notice, I can use the image;• if I alter the image I don’t need permission;• if I don’t profit from it, I can use it;• if I only use a part of the image I don’t need

permission.

WHAT ABOUT STOCK PHOTOS?Stock images break down into two main types, royalty-free and rights-managed.• For royalty-free images, you get nearly unlimited use. You can use the

image in virtually any application, for as long as you like, in as many different projects as you like, as long as you comply with the terms of the license agreement. The image is available to use from when you purchase a license. Following payment of the license fee, no additional royalty payments are owed.

• With rights-managed images, your right to use the image is typically restricted, with limitations placed on things such as duration of use, geographic region, industry, etc., as established by your license agreement.

ARE THERE SITES THAT HAVE PHOTOS I CAN USE?• YES! However, you must make sure to read the fine

print! Some sites will state that the photos are protected under a creative commons license, but not all are!

• Check out this website for more details: http://www.stockphotorights.com/faq/

PUBLIC DOMAIN

WHAT’S PUBLIC DOMAIN

A public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone.  The reasons that the work is not protected include: • (1) the term of copyright for the work has expired; • (2) the author failed to satisfy statutory 

formalities to perfect the copyright or • (3) the work is a work of the U.S. Government. 

COPYRIGHT TERM•Copyright term is the length of time copyright subsists in a work before it passes into the public domain.

• In the U.S., any work published before January 1, 1923 anywhere in the world is in the public domain.

• When a work has not been published in the U.S. but in some other country, that other country's copyright laws also must be taken into account. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN

• All works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain.

• Works published after 1922, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication.

• If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.

PUBLIC DOMAIN IS CONFUSING!• If you aren’t sure if the work you are using is public domain either DON’T USE IT or DO SOME RESEARCH!

•http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

PENALTIES W H AT H A P P E N S I F YO U I N F R I N G E ? !

WHAT’S THE PENALTY?

• Infringer pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits.

• The law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed.

• The infringer can go to jail.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!A N S W E R T H E Q U E S T I O N S

IT DOES NOT VIOLATE COPYRIGHT WHEN YOU CREATE A FILM THAT IS DERIVED FROM A BOOK.

True False

FALSE!• You cannot make a

derivative work without consulting with the author first!

How would the Creative Commons licenses influence your ability to use the work if it was on the Creative Commons website?

ANYTHING I USE FOR SCHOOLWORK IS FAIR USE

True False

FALSE!• It is legal to use a small portion or copyrighted material

for educational purposes such as teaching materials, media projects and/or research documents and non-educational purposes. Including material used for a discussion piece or comment section. (Fair Use).

• If you are going to use the work for personal gain, like in a portfolio or for an advertisement for a school event, it is NOT Fair Use.

IF AN ARTICLE ONLINE DOESN’T HAVE THE COPYRIGHT SYMBOL, THEN IT’S NOT CONSIDERED COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

True False

FALSE!• This was true until the revision of the 1989 copyright law,

which states that it is not necessary to indicate a copyright symbol and/or statement on "original works" in order for it to be protected by copyright law.

COPYRIGHT LAW PROTECTS AN ONLINE WEB PAGE DOCUMENT…

True False

TRUE• Copyright protects original works of authorship that are

fixed in a tangible form of expression. An on-line web page is considered a tangible form.

IT’S OKAY TO USE THE WORK IF I DON’T GET A FINANCIAL GAIN FROM IT…

True False

FALSE!• Whether you make money or not, the image is protected

and you cannot use it without permission.

IF I USE AN PHOTOGRAPH FOR MY SCHOOL PROJECT THAT IS PROTECTED UNDER COPYRIGHT IT’S OKAY BECAUSE IT’S FOR A SCHOOL PROJECT

True False

FALSE!• It would be okay to use a photo from the internet if you

were learning a technique in Photoshop or another software.

• If you are using the image for something like a logo or a project that you will use in your portfolio you CAN NOT use someone else’s copyrighted work!

VIDEOS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiq42O6rhW4• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YkbeycRa2A

RESOURCES

• Modified content from Beth Sockman’s PPT from DMET 160• https://creativecommons.org/• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiq42O6rhW4• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YkbeycRa2A