Copyright is the legal right given to individuals to publish, produce, sale or distribute works that they create. The primary works covered by the copyright laws are literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic works. Three guidelines associated with copyright laws that impact the classroom are making copies of the work, selling or otherwise distributing copies of the work, and preparing new works based on the protected work.
The two guidelines that are most important to me are making copies of the work and preparing new works based on the protected work. Making copies of the work happens most days. I reproduce articles to use in the classroom and I had planned to use these articles in the future not realizing that this practice was an infringement on copyright laws. According to my reading, this practice of copying and using works in future years is outside copyright laws. I thought this was okay because this was what I have witnessed. We are ignorant of the law and how our practices are in conflict. I thought this practice met the “fair use” guidelines, until now. The volume and frequency of use is the problem not the use of the material.
The second, guideline is preparing new works based on the protected work. The adage of “don’t recreate or reinvent the wheel” comes to mind. This adage makes it seem okay to use previous works to aid in the current endeavor. This could be writing a paper or creating a lesson plan. I search for examples of the task at hand prior to beginning my work. I frequently use some of the information, modifying the content to make appropriate for my needs. How much should I use? If the format of the document is used and not the content, is that inside or outside the purview of the copyright laws? This law has to do with how much of the resource is being used. Anytime there is a judgment call there is some gray associated with the answer. This makes appropriate interpretation of the law harder. Since the use of protected works come into play in the classroom every day, I will seek ways to ensure appropriate use.
Teachers are allowed to use copyrighted material on a limited base. However, when the use is in conflict with the purpose of the copyright law which is to provide an economic incentive for individuals to create new work there is a problem and this is when we are violating the law.
This was a great blog. From reading about the Fair Use Policy and copyright law, I realized that I too have violated the law without knowing. As educators, we are forced to be creative in the classroom, especially do to the budget cuts, but we have to me mindful and keep abreast of the fair use policy. I found it interesting that you used the example of "not reinventing the will". I agree that there is no point of recreating something that already works, but we have to be careful of time constraints and the amounts of the items we are copying and distributing.
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