Copyright Law Part I

What is Copyright? It is “the exclusive right to produce or reproduce (copy), to perform in public, or to publish an original literary or artistic work.”

What are literary and artistic works? (Chap. II – Original Works, Sec. 172.1)

These are original creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation and shall include in particular:

• Books, pamphlets, articles and other writings;
• Periodicals and newspapers;
• Lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material form;
• Letters;
• Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions, choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;
• Musical compositions, with or without words;
• Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art;
• Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art;
• Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, charts and three dimensional works relative to geography,topography, architecture or science;
• Drawings or plastic works of scientific or technical character;
• Photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any process for making audio-visual recordings;
• Pictorial illustrations and advertisements;
• Computer programs; and
• Other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works.

Sec. 172. 2 states that works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as their content, quality and purpose.

What is Copyright Law? 

Based on MS Encarta Encyclopedia , Copyright Law sets the conditions under which anyone may copy, in whole or in part, the original works transmittable in any medium. Based on a multimedia presentation from Intel, the following materials are not copyrighted.

• Logical, comprehensive compilations (such as the telephone book)
• Unoriginal reprints of public domain works
• Materials or reprints of materials in the public domain (all prior to 1923; most between 1923-1963)
• Freeware (not shareware) • Facts • Ideas, processes, methods, and systems described in copyrighted materials

Fair Use of A Copyrighted Work (Chap. VIII – Limitations on Copyright, Sec. 185)

Chap. VIII, Sec. 185, Fair Use of the Copyrighted Work states: “the fair use of a copyrighted work for criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, including multiple copies for classroom use, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

The following article is an attempt to give details on Copyright Law specifically on printed and multimedia materials.

What is Copyright? It is “the exclusive right to produce or reproduce (copy), to perform in public, or to publish an original literary or artistic work.”

What are literary and artistic works? (Chap. II – Original Works, Sec. 172.1)

These are original creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation and shall include in particular:

a.Books, pamphlets, articles and other writings;

b.Periodicals and newspapers;

c.Lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material form;

d.Letters;

e.Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions, choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;

f.Musical compositions, with or without words;

g.Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art;

h.Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art;

i.Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, charts and three dimensional works relative to geography,topography, architecture or science;

j.Drawings or plastic works of scientific or technical character;

k.Photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any process for making audio-visual recordings;

l.Pictorial illustrations and advertisements;

m.Computer programs and

n.Other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works

Sec. 172. 2 states that works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as their content, quality and purpose.

What is Copyright Law?

Based on MS Encarta Encyclopedia , Copyright Law sets the conditions under which anyone may copy, in whole or in part, the original works transmittable in any medium.

Based on a multimedia presentation from Intel, the following materials are not copyrighted.

•Logical, comprehensive compilations (such as the telephone book)

•Unoriginal reprints of public domain works

•Materials or reprints of materials in the public domain (all prior to 1923; most between 1923-1963)

•Freeware (not shareware)

•Facts

•Ideas, processes, methods, and systems described in copyrighted materials

Fair Use of A Copyrighted Work (Chap. VIII – Limitations on Copyright, Sec. 185)

Chap. VIII, Sec. 185, Fair Use of the Copyrighted Work states: “the fair use of a copyrighted work for criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, including multiple copies for classroom use, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

Four Factors that will Help Determine Whether the Use Made of a Work is Fair Use:

·The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit education purposes;

·The nature of the copyrighted work;

·The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

·The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

So it would seem that it’s “fair use” if…

•The copying is for educational use;

•The original material is mainly facts and is published;

•You use portions to make your point, not whole sections; and

•You’re not taking potential sales away from the original

oYou’re not providing copies just so your students don’t have to pay for the books (or original source materials).

Between 1992-1994, a group of publishers and educators gathered to agree to more specific guidelines so educators won’t be sued for copyright infringement when they were thinking their copying was “fair use.” The result was the Fair Use Guidelines for educational Multimedia.

Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia

The Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia is not a legal document, but only an interpretation of the Copyright Act of 1976 by CONFU, a group of educational users and copyright owners (who obviously have a stake in this interpretation).

Students’ Guidelines

Students may:

·incorporate portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works when producing their own educational multimedia projects for a specific course;

·perform and display their own projects in the course for which they were created; and

·retain them in their own