Core copyright industries -- those that create copyrighted works --represent an estimated $240 billion in annual contribution o the U.S. economy. Other related industries,such as those that distribute copyrighted works, account for an additional contribution of approximately $120 billion annually. Between 1991 and 1993, while the entire U.S.economy grew at an annual rate of approximately 2.7 percent, the core copyright industries grew twice as fast, at the rate of 5.6 percent.

(Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure. Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 1996.)

Copyright-

• Under the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright owners have the exclusive right to
  • reproduce,
  • prepare derivative works,
  • distribute,
  • perform,
  • display,
  • transfer ownership, rent or lend their creations.  
• All works (original works that show minimal creativity) are copyrighted from a best seller to e-mail to a 1st grader's drawing.
• Copyright protects an author's original, tangible form of expression- the ideas, or factual information are not protected (patent) nor are any preexisting materials that have been incorporated in the copyrighted work protected.
  • For example, you can copyright a chart, but not the FACTS in a chart. In an anthology of Goethe the selection of stories and their layout is copyrighted, but the works of Goethe themselves are now in the public domain.
• Under the same Act, the "Fair Use" exemption places a limit on these exclusive rights in order to promote free speech, learning, scholarly research and open discussion.  
  • Public Domain- Works are copyrighted for only a period of time, roughly for the life of the author plus 50 years, but see the Public Domain Chart: http://www.bmb.com/ip/PubDomain.html  
  • Permission- a sample letter follows

Fair Use "Rules of Thumb" by Georgia Harper, General Counsel at University of Texas: http://iron.utsystem.edu/home/OGC/Intellectual Property/copypol2.htm#mm
(Recommended by Bryn Mawr's Lawyer)

A primer on fair use for the academic community by Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Management Centerof Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis: Fair Use: Overview and Meaning for Higher Education, http://www.iupui.edu/it/copyinfo/highered98.html(Recommended by Marc)

The following uses do not constitute an infringement of copyright if they can meet the test of four factors:

• Criticism
• Comment
• News Reporting
• Teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use)
• Scholarship
• Research 

The four factors:

If you are using a large portion of the copyrighted material or wish to use the project for many years, you should seek permission from the copyright holder. Your letter should address:

Who- Who is asking permission and who will be using the work for which permission is asked
What- Specific item for which permission is asked (publication, amount of work, what section)
Where- Extent and manner of distribution
When- Planned frequency of use
Why- Project rational; include the sum and substance of the proposed project (% of whole that copyrighted item occupies)

 

* Differentiate between educational and instructional uses. Instructional uses are intrinsically attached to a programmed course of study. Educational uses involve providing information to the university community and/or general public.
Electronic citations
sample letter

The Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., operates as a licenser of photocopy reproduction rights (for a price). The company currently manages rights relating to over 1.75 million works.

The Copyright Code of 1976 includes guidelines (not law) that specify a safe domain for off-air recording of broadcast TV, the use of music and sound recordings, and photocopying of print works. Things have changes significantly since 1976!

In 1994 the Conference on Fair Use (proprietors/users/government) created new guidelines which were accepted by some of the drafting members. In September 1996 the Subcommittee on Courts & Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary, US House of Representatives issued a non-legislative report acknowledging these guidelines: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/

These guidelines have no legal standing! They apply to the use:

• without permission
• of portions
• of lawfully acquired copyrighted works
• in educational multimedia projects
• created by educators or students
• as part of a systematic learning activity
• by nonprofit educational institutions

I. Faculty may use lawfully acquired copyrighted materials for:

• Face-to-face instruction
• directed self-study assignments
• remote instruction (when access limited and copying disabled (or 2 copies for 15 Days))
• display at conferences/workshops or in portfolio  

II. Students may use lawfully acquired copyrighted materials for:

• multimedia projects for a specific course
• their own portfolios

Time-

May use projects for teaching for a period of up to 2 years after the first instructional use.

 

Portion-

limits apply cumulatively

Texts:

• An entire poem of less than 250 words or 250 words of a poem of greater length
• No more than 3 poems per author
• No more than 5 poems by different poets from a single anthology
• Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, of a single copyrighted work

 

Music, lyrics, music videos:

 

• up to 10%, but
• no more than 30 seconds of music and lyrics from a single musical work
• Cannot change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work

Motion Media:

 

• video- up to 10% or three minutes whichever is less

Illustrations & Photographs:

 

• a photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety
• no more than 5 images by an artist or photographer
• no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less, by different artists from a single published collected work

Acknowledgements-

• Place a "©" under images with the ownership & source specified
• Acknowledge the name of the copyright holder and the year of first publication
• On the Opening Screen signify that:
  • Certain materials have been included under the fair use exemption. These materials have been included in accordance with the fair use guidelines. The materials are restricted from further use.

Crandall, L. (1997). Copyright and the Learning Center: Issues & Resources.
IALL Journal. 30, 1, 39-69.

Fair Use: Overview and Meaning for Higher Education, http://www.iupui.edu/it/copyinfo/highered98.html
Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Management Centerof Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

University of Massachusetts Foreign Language Resource Center: http://www.umass.edu/langctr/cr-fu.html

Copyright & Fair Use- Stanford University Library Index

Fair Use "Rules of Thumb" by Georgia Harper, General Counsel at University of Texas (Recommended by Bryn Mawr's Lawyer) http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/mmfruse.htm

Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia and Related Documents and Links:
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/default.html

See a summary of the new Fair Use Guidelines presented in Powerpoint: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/fairhigh.html

This page contains the electronic version of Fair Use of Copyrighted Works, a pamphlet published by CETUS Consortium for Educational Technology in University Systems: http://www.cetus.org/fairindex.html U.S. Copyright Office Home Page

Electronic citations

A case History Concerning Course Packets (but covers much of copyright law)