Intellectual Property, Guidelines: Child & Family Resources
Intellectual Property, Guidelines: Child & Family Resources
Intellectual Property, Guidelines: Child & Family Resources
a. Knowledge of the basic concepts and principles of intellectual property, and the
property rights attached to intellectual property.
c. The ability to distinguish the legal implications of between personal, educational and
commercial uses of protected works.
d. The principles of Fair Use and how they apply in instructor and learner usage.
2. Discuss the instructor’s role in this effort, as a guide and a role model for ethical
behavior.
3. Describe the resources available for teaching learners about IP and copyright issues
A Little Background
Copyright has a relatively short history compared to other laws, and it helps to understand how our
Copyright Law developed. Understanding how the law protects private interests, while it restricts
some freedoms is important to help us accept the law, and perhaps understand the real issues.
Some highlights:
• The Statute of Anne, 1710: Codified author ownership and established copyrights for a
term of 14 yrs., plus one renewal term.
• U.S Constitution, 1787: Established the basic premises of protecting the rights of the
author for limited times and ensuring public access to ‘useful information.’
• Copyright Act of 1790: Established basic tenants of copyright law, based on British
model, and the established the term of 14 yrs. plus one renewal.
• 1870 Revision: Removed administration of copyright law from local courts and placed it
within the Library of Congress.
• 1909 Revision: Extended the copyright terms to 28 yrs. and one 28 yr. renewal.
• Copyright Act of 1976. The last major revision of the laws. Established a new copyright
term: the life of the author, plus 50 years.
• 1998 Berne Convention Brought U.S. Copyright Law closer to international practice.
Eliminated the requirements for copyright marking.
• 1992 Amendment to Title17 Section 304: Renewal of copyright became automatic.
• 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act: Major blow to Public Domain, extended the
copyright term to life of the author plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication for works
made for hire.
• As result of their learning and experience, instructors, consultants, and learners will
produce original and creative works that have value for personal use, portfolios and
perhaps for or future commercial use.
As a result, instructors, consultants, and learners need to understand the basic concepts and
principles behind intellectual property and the legal methods employed to protect those
products from unauthorized use.
Just as we understand that plagiarizing written works is dishonest, we need to recognize that
outside certain limited conditions- unauthorized appropriation of non-text material is illegal.
The use of copyrighted photographs, drawings, charts, video, audio, software, animations and
other types of creative products outside those narrow boundaries, is not just unethical.
Copyright infringement is against the law and it can lead to criminal charges.
One of the greatest dangers is that an instructor, consultant, or learner will carry
misinformation or careless behavior from personal uses to professional use. Attitudes such as
‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong. ’ ‘Everyone else does it.’ ‘It isn’t really hurting anybody.’
or ‘They won’t catch me.’ will create major difficulties when carried over into the workplace.
Basic Terminology/Concepts
There are basic terms and concepts we need to be familiar with in order to work with intellectual
property and copyrighted material; and be on firm legal footing. More detailed information about
these items can be found using the resources cited at the end of this guide.
• Intellectual Property: The intangible value we place on original, creative work: the ideas
and concepts, and the physical things that represent that effort. Inventions, songs,
paintings, formulas, designs, and the models, recordings, products etc. that result from or
represent the creative effort.
• Copyright, Trademark, Service Marks, Trade Secret, Patent: The property rights
assigned by law to protect intellectual property. Copyrights and patents are the most
familiar, but we see trademarks and service marks all around us, and the trade secret is
often used as a marketing device.
• The 4 Rights in Copyright, “All Rights Reserved’. Copyrights include: the right to
reproduce, distribute, display or perform the work in public, and the right to create
derivatives of the original work. Rights may be unbundled. ‘All rights reserved ‘ means just
that.
• Who Owns the Rights? Typically, the author or creator alone owns the copyright. If there
are multiple authors they share the copyrights. Copyrights can be given away, sold or
negotiated as part of a contract.
• Works Made for Hire. The employer owns all copyrightable or patentable works created by
employees within the scope of work defined for the job. Commissioned works, and those
commissioned as part of a collective work are works for hire. Written contracts and
agreements may stipulate the employer’s ownership of the work.
• Term of Copyright. The law defines the period that copyright remains in effect. For
individual works, the term is for the life of the author plus 70 years. For works for hire, the
term lasts for 95 years from the first date of publication. As a good rule of thumb: assume
that any individual work created after 1923 and any commercial works published after 1908
will still be under copyright.
• Fixed Works. Works are not copyrightable until they are expressed in a format that is
tangible or accessible for others to read or use. Copyright is automatic upon ‘fixing the work.
Registration with the Copyright Office is not required.
• Copyright Marks. The use of copyright marks: the symbol © or the long format - Copyright
2004, John C. Jones are no longer required. The absence of copyright marks does not
mean the work is free to use.
• Public Domain. Works in the public domain are free to for anyone to use without limitation.
Works go into public domain when: 1) The original copyright expires and has not been
renewed, or 2.) When the original author clearly designates the work for public domain.
Certain government works (but not all) also are designated for the public domain.
However- the published versions or editions of works in the public domain are copyrighted.
This caution is particularly important for works of fiction, art, music, etc.
• Fair Use, the Fair Use Test. Fair use is a principle in Copyright Law that provides us with a
limited ability to use copyrighted material without getting permission for limited purposes:
personal use, non-profit uses, education, criticism or commentary, news reporting and
parody. There are no hard rules to determine if an intended use is a Fair Use, but there are
‘test criteria’ to help in making the decision:
1. What is the purpose and character of the intended use?
2. What is the nature of the copyrighted work?
3. How much of the work will be used? And how important is that part?
4. How would widespread use of this work impact its market value?
• Getting Permission- Why? When? And How? Why? To avoid the effort and expense
required to defend against and infringement claim. You should get permission anytime you
want to use work in a way that does not ‘fit’ the criteria for Fair Use or there is a strong
likelihood the material will be incorporated in a work for commercial distribution. The U.S.
Copyright Office has resources to help you research and request permissions.
Context of Use
Personal Use Beliefs about what we are permitted to do with ‘our property’ are deeply embedded.
We have no doubt that when we purchase or acquire something; it is ours to do with as we please.
We purchase a book, read it, give it to a friend, sell it in a yard sale, and donate it to a book drive or
discard it without thinking anything of it. That’s common practice. The problem is that it fosters a
feeling that we can do the same with any other products we purchase, so we copy music CDs, burn
disks from downloaded music and video files, mount software on our desktop and our laptop, down
load the great things we find on the web, etc., all of the while overlooking an important fact. Most of
these actions are acceptable when limited to your personal use, but the moment you burn a
‘copy’ to give to a friend, or post the file to a web site to share with others; you are infringing on the
copyright and have broken the law. Simply put: purchasing (or licensing) an item does not include
any copyrights for that item.
Educational Use When we come to the K- 16 and higher education settings, faculty and students
are granted under copyright law, some additional rights to use copyrighted material, without getting
permission from the copyright owners. The generic term Educational Fair Use refers to the rights
instructors have to copy articles, display photos or artwork, films, etc., for classroom use without
seeking permission from the copyright owner. Fair Use also permits use of copyrighted material in
multimedia, web sites, online courses and other instructional products under certain conditions and
limitations. Students also enjoy some similar rights when completing course assignments and
assembling portfolios. These rights are limited to non-profit educational purposes. Those types of
uses may not be continued outside the academic environment, except for portfolio purposes.
Commercial Use In personal consulting or other for-profit, non-educational activity, your uses of
copyrighted material are no longer governed by the tenets of personal use or Educational Fair Use.
Actions seen as acceptable personal use and educational uses are highly unethical and illegal in a
for-profit, commercial setting. Using someone else’s copyrighted work in an activity that produces
income or increases sales, without getting permission or licensing the material is illegal. Copying,
redistributing or otherwise depriving the copyright owner of potential revenue carries significant
penalties. In fact the majority of case law dealing with copyright infringement comes from the
commercial sector.
As educators – we need to acknowledge the differences and be prepared to adapt our behaviors to
the situation.
Moral Rights
Moral Rights refer to expectations common to everyone and have no relation to morality. They
address common expectations related to the uses of copyrighted work and the reputation of the
author/creator:
Rights of Attribution Authors have the right to expect to receive clear and prominent recognition
and acknowledgement of their work if the work is reproduced or used in another context. We are
very clear on our expectations about giving appropriate citations for text materials. That expectation
should be extended to any copyrighted non-text material: charts, graphs, photographs, artworks,
audio or video clips, websites, etc.
Rights of Integrity Authors have the right to expect to that their original works be not subject to
derogatory treatment, or other actions that modify, or disrupt the original intent and purpose of the
work. This does not preclude the use of copyrighted works as the subject of critiques, satire or
parody, but such transformative works should be tempered by objective criteria that are not
prejudicial to the integrity of the author or the work.
Understanding the basic concepts of Fair Use and the test criteria will help you decide whether or not
a specific use can qualify as Fair Use.
Fair Use decisions are subjective and they are made on a case-by-case basis. As a result they are
subject to interpretation and they can be challenged. How should you prepare for that possibility?
First of all- be realistic and honest with yourself, and secondly, make a reasonable good faith effort to
comply with the laws.
• If the use you are thinking about seems fair, document the thinking process that led to that
decision.
• If the use feels questionable from the start, or quickly ‘fails’ one or more of the Fair Use
criteria, get permission from the copyright holder.
• To get permission, research the copyright completely and identify the person or organization
authorized to grant permission and submit your request.
• If you tried to get permission but could not locate the copyright holder or did not get a reply,
document your search and the effort to get permission.
Making reasonable Fair Use decisions – and demonstrating reasonable good faith efforts are the
strongest defense against and infringement claim.
References and Resources
Library of Congress, U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov/ The 'official' source on intellectual property, copyright, patent and
trademark law. Includes information about educational uses of copyrighted materials under the
fair use provisions and subsequent agreements, and current status of copyright in digital
resources and distance education. Also includes information, instructions and forms for
registering copyright of original works.