Safe Harbor

Brian Mariano Background Beach Summary: Copyright is a right to an intellectual property. It is a legal creation used by authors to protect the works they have made and also to ensure that they receive any financial gains from their creations. It allows a creator to do what he or she wishes with that work, such as copy, distribute, sell, rent, etc… It specifically pertains to created forms of expression. It protects things such as: Poetry Prose Computer programs Artwork Music-- written or recorded. Animations Movies and videos Java Applets A "web page" Architectural Drawings Photographs And other forms of expression But it does not protect things that are public access, such as names, ideas, titles, slogans and logos (which are protected by trademarks), etc… Fair Use is what allows educators to use copyrighted material without providing payment to the copyright holder. Congress, in

its 1976 Copyright Act determined the criteria in determining what Fair Use is, these are rules of thumb, and not law. It stated that Fair Use is determined by the Purpose and Character of the Use (if the work is of a commercial nature or intended to be used in an educational setting), Nature of Copyrighted Work (if it is created for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship,or research), Amount and Substantiality of the use or copies (how much of the work was used), and the Effect on the Potential Market (did the used work deprive the copyright holder of a sale?). Application for Teachers: It is important for an educator to understand how copyrights work. It relates to how they can use copyrighted material in an educational setting. They are allowed to incorporate copyrighted material into the lesson plan through an idea called Fair Use. It allows them to incorporate copyrighted material into the lesson plan without having to fear a lawsuit or having to compensate the copyright holder. This does not mean that an educator can use all of the copyrighted material though. The rule of thumb is to use the minimum amount necessary to teach the material.

Summary for Multimedia Wharf: Multimedia is defined as a program designed either for educational or entertainment purposes that incorporates text, graphics, and audio/visual clips into a computer based environment. This has been a controversial topic as it is either seen as an infringement on copyrights or as an example of Fair Use privileges. In September 1996, a set of guidelines was established to help distinguish between Fair Use and Copyright Infringement. These guidelines (not laws, but rules of thumb) were called the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia. They allowed copyrighted material to be used in multimedia without students or educators having to fear lawsuits or pay for use. These rules of thumb state the following: • Students can use copyrighted material in their multimedia creations and share them in academic

settings. • Faculty can use the work of others in their multimedia in order create lesson plans. • Multimedia products that incorporate copyrighted material can be used by educators to teach students in a Distance Learning environment, so long as only the students can access the material. • Faculty can present multimedia creations at conferences in order to further information and share learning with others. The guidelines also established limits for use of copyrighted materials in multimedia creations. Video clips can use up to 10% or 3 minutes. Text can be up to 1000 words or 10% of the material. Poems Up to 250 words 3 poems per poet 5 poems from different poets in a collection or anthology. Music is 10% of the song, or 30 seconds. Photos/Images 5 works per author 10% or 15 works from a collection Database 10% or 2500 fields or entries Faculty can use multimedia products for 2 years that contain copyrighted works. After that, they must get permission to use it. The key to remember is to use the smallest amount necessary to get the point across.

Application for Teachers: Since computers have become a major tool in the educational field, teachers must be careful about their use of multimedia in the classroom. They must understand how Fair Use applies to multimedia programs. By having a firm grasp of the Guidelines of Educational Multimedia, a teacher can be confident that they can use multimedia without having to fear a lawsuit or compensating the copyright holder for use. Understanding that using only the minimum amount necessary to effectively convey the lesson will ensure that the teacher will be using multimedia programs safely.

Joel DavisSummarizing Paragraph for Visual Audio Lagoon An audio-visual work is a sequence of pictures, sounds or a combination of both. This is also considered a work of expression and is protected by copyright laws. Examples of audio-visual works include VHS recordings, Laserdiscs, DVD recordings, 35mm slides, film strips, and 16mm movies. When audio-visual works are presented to a student, it is considered performance and display. When a teacher legally copies an audio-visual work it is considered fair use. According to the 1976 Copyright Act, teachers can perform audio-visual works in a faceto-face situation (i.e. in class). However, in 2002, president Bush signed the Teach Act making it legal for teachers to do audiovisual work in digital transmission under certain conditions. There are three main conditions regarding performance and display: 1. Performance and display of audio-visual work must meet the instructional objective; 2. The audio-visual work must be a lawfully made copy; 3. Popular videos can only be screened within the bounds of systematic instructional activities. Fair use is different from performance and display, it refers to duplication. There are four main fair use criteria from the 1976 Copyright Act: 1. Teacher must use the smallest amount sufficient to meet instructional needs; 2. Teachers must avoid using the "creative essence" of the copyrighted work; 3. Teachers need to consult the "fair use guidelines for educational

multimedia" before duplicating audio-visual works; 4. It is illegal to copy an entire audio-visual work or to convert it to another format. Application for Teachers This is all very necessary for teachers today because eventually some form of an audio-visual work will be used in the classroom. It is extremely important for teachers to be aware of what they can and cannot perform in the classroom because it is possible that they or the school could face a lawsuit for copyright infringement. Teachers need to know that essentially the only reason for performing an audio-visual work in the classroom is to meet educational objectives, and that they must use the smallest amount possible. This excludes using movies as rewards or as motivation for extracurricular activities. It is also important for teachers to know that they cannot simply record something they saw on PBS (for example) and bring it to class and show it. This is very common and teachers need to know that only lawful copies are allowed to be shown in class. Summarizing Paragraph for DistEd Point The title of this section refers to "Distance Education" which basically implies a digital transmission (i.e. online courses), as opposed to face-to-face education. Audio-visual works at-adistance without permission became legal in 2002 with the Teach Act. However there are certain conditions in regards to distance education: 1. It applies only to nonprofit institutions and students that are enrolled in a course; 2. It can be used only in reasonable and limited portions; 3. It can only be used for brief periods of time when students are participating in instructional activities. Audio-visual works can also not be available for the length of an entire course nor after the course has ended. There are also several restrictions when using audio-visual works in distance education; 1. Digital versions of copyrighted work must be used when available; 2. If digital versions are unavailable, it is up to the teacher's discretion. Analog versions may be digitalized but only limited portions, and digital copies can be stored on a network so long as no one has access to it except for the teacher; 3. Only reasonable and limited amounts should be used; 4. For images and displays, the amount used should be

comparable to what would be used in a live class. There are several points regarding responsibility in audio-visual works in distance education. Institutions must have policies in place to govern the use of copyrighted material. They also must provide information about copyright and fair use. There must also be a notice to students, such as in the syllabus, informing them that materials may be subject to copyright protection. It is also strongly recommended that teachers read the Teach Act of 2002 to get a full grasp of the laws. Application for Teachers This information is extremely beneficial to teachers because nowadays, teachers, regardless if they are teaching online courses or not, are bound to display some form of audio-visual content over the Internet for their classes. Again, the most important reason for teachers to be familiar with these laws is to avoid a costly lawsuit. Teachers should realize that the most important elements of audio-visual works in relation to distance education is that they use the smallest portions necessary, that only students with a password has access to the material, and that digital versions of material are used whenever possible. Valerie Nichols Single Copying Inlet