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Copyright & Multimedia
The use of electronic
resources for research as well as for writing, publishing, and creating graphics
has blurred the line between plagiarism and copyright violation. In addition,
computer software and the use of the Internet has made it very easy to simply
grab an audio or video clip, cut and paste an image from a photo, and creatively
mix and match graphics. You may want to do this to create a multimedia
presentation or to enhance your homepage. Being able to do it easily, however,
does not mean that you should. Your decision to do this may result in copyright
infringement, which can result in legal action against you and a hefty fine. You
need to understand what is and is not allowed according to law.
While the purpose of the
research guide is to define plagiarism and to illustrate proper form for giving
credit to others, it may be necessary to know just how much of someone else's
work you may use --and under what circumstances. What follows is a brief summary
of what U.S. copyright law allows, what "fair use" guidelines are, and some
quantity limits for different materials. For more detailed information, see
references about copyright available in our Media center Resource Center and at
educational institutions' Web sites. Some examples are listed at the end of this
section.
U.S. copyright law (Title 17,
U.S. Code, Section 16)
gives five rights to the creators of intellectual property as
long as it has been put down in concrete form, such as prose, poetry, graphic
arts, music, video, etc. This law automatically protects any work created after
January 1, 1978. These five rights are reproduction, adaptation, distribution,
public performance, and public displays. The owner of these property rights may
sell or license them to another as he/she wishes.
This copyright law has been
amended by Congress to grant exceptions to these strict legal requirements to
schools, students and certain other nonprofit entities. These exceptions have
become known as "fair use guidelines." Fair use of copyrighted material means
that within certain limits, it is not copyright infringement if it is for
purposes of criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research. In
other words, under certain circumstances, others may use this intellectual
property as long as they follow these guidelines.
To determine whether what you
intend to use/copy violates these guidelines
, four questions need to be
asked:
(1) Is the use for nonprofit
educational purposes only?
(2) What is the nature of the
copyrighted work? Fiction or non-fiction?
(3) What portion of the whole
is being copied?
(4) Will this result in the
loss of income for the creator?
Several examples of appropriate and
inappropriate uses are:
a. In the course of
researching musical instruments, you print out an entire article about the
trumpet from
Encarta to read
later. This is considered personal use and is allowed. However, should you
put your name on
the article or alter it and
turn it in as your own work, you have not only plagiarized but also committed
a copyright violation.
b.
You find an image you want to use in a collection of clip-art.
Most clip-art is shareware or in the public domain;
so you are invited to use it. Just remember to give credit.
c. You are creating a
multimedia project by combining text, audio and video for assignment.
Follow "fair use"
and quantity guidelines,
(listed below). State on your opening screen that copyrighted materials have
been
used and that you have done so
following the "fair use" guidelines. Give credit to your sources.
d. You make copies for
yourself and for others who may also have worked on the project. All of this is
permissible.
But should you decide to post
this on a Web page, you have entered other territory and need more information
to protect yourself than space
allows in this Guide.
In 1996, the Fair Use
Guidelines for Multimedia were established and defined quantity limits on
material teachers and
students may use:
-
Motion media (film, video,
television): up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less, of an
individual program.
- Text
(prose, poetry, drama): Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less. Short
poems with fewer than 250 words may be used in their entirety.
-
Music, lyrics, and music
video: Up to 10% but not more than 30 seconds from a single work.
-
Illustrations, cartoons, photography: No more than five images from a single
artist or photographer.
-
Numerical data sets: Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cells, whichever is less, may
be used from a database.
Remember, in all cases
you must give credit to your source. You may also need to request permission
to
use works from the creator and adhere to some time limits.
For further
information, see:
Simpson, Carol Mann.
Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide. 2nd ed.
Worthington, OH: Linworth Publishing, 1997.
URL: http
:// Iweb.capco.com/capcolQACopyright.html
The
Copyright and Fair Use Website: URL: http://fairuse.stanford.edu
Example of university
copyright statement for students
URL:http:llwww.wellesley.edu/library/copyright
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