Copyright

The Internet is revolutionary platform for facilitating the exchange of ideas and information across the globe. However, with great power comes great responsibility. It is important for us as educators to understand where this information is coming from and if we have permission to use it, distribute it, reproduce it, or change it. Not only is it important to practice this in our own professional activities, it is also important to model and enforce this practice with our students. However, copyright is a tricky, tangled area of the law with lots of information to keep straight. On this page: Copyright Introduction Fair Use Public Domain Creative Commons Resources media type="custom" key="27579660" align="center" to download the full presentation with additional information.



Copyright Introduction
Copyright is a series of federal laws that protect the ownership of material to the person who authored that material. In order for something to be copyrighted, it just has to be original. No need to apply for a copyright license or even publish the material. As soon as the original material is developed, it is protected under copyright. However, it does have to be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." For example, if a musician creates a new song by simply singing it out loud, that is not a tangible medium and the song would not be protected under copyright. If he instead writes down the song or creates a recording of the song, then the song is fixed in a tangible medium of expression and is thus protected under copyright. The term of a copyright license is the lifetime of the author plus another 70 years. However, some uses of copyrighted material (e.g., for certain educational purposes) are allowed without the need to secure permission from the copyright owner. This is called "Fair Use."

The good people at Crash Course have developed a series of "webisodes" that explain the basics of copyright law and intellectual property (IP). (As a side note: Crash Course, created by John Green and his brother Hank, has created various series of webisodes on many different topics ranging from world history to biology, and they are all very interesting and entertaining!)


 * 1) Introduction to Intellectual Property: Crash Course IP 1
 * 2) Copyright Basics: Crash Course Intellectual Property 2
 * 3) Copyright, Exceptions, and Fair Use: Crash Course Intellectual Property #3
 * 4) Patents, Novelty, and Trolls: Crash Course Intellectual Property #4
 * 5) Trademarks and Avoiding Consumer Confusion: Crash Course Intellectual Property #5
 * 6) International IP Law: Crash Course Intellectual Property #6

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Public Domain
"Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples include the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven, most of the early silent films, the formulae of Newtonian physics, Serpent encryption algorithm and powered flight. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, in which case use of the work is referred to as 'under license' or 'with permission'" (Wikipedia).

For music educators, this means that we can take a published manuscript from a composer who has not been alive for at least 70 years to use in any way, shape, or form in our classes, including the creation of derivative works. According to Wikipedia, "Derivative works include translations, musical arrangements, and dramatizations of a work, as well as other forms of transformation or adaptation...Copyrighted works may not be used for derivative works without permission from the copyright owner, while public domain works can be freely used for derivative works without permission." Note, however, that this does NOT include sound recordings of a performance of these composers' works.


 * Public Domain Music
 * Public Domain Information Project

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 Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has created a series of copyright licenses that work //with// traditional copyright law to offer added flexibility and freedom and "provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “ some rights reserved .” ( Creative Commons website )

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This Wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license.

One of the great benefits of Creative Commons licensing for school is when using images from the Web, either for presentations, student work, including on your website, etc. You can customize Google image search to show only images that have these licenses:
 * Google search
 * Images
 * Search Tools
 * Usage Rights
 * Filter by usage rights that you need. Most likely just "Licensed for reuse."

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Resources
Copyright.gov - view the law and regulations in full Copyright Kids - a resource to help students learn more about copyright Creative Commons - everything you need to know about Creative Commons licensing

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