Understanding Copyright Law in a For-Profit Institution What

Understanding Copyright Law in a For-Profit Institution What is Legal and Allowable? By: Eileen Rhodes, MLS, Corporate Librarian and David R. Polgar, JD, Associate Professor at Lincoln College of New England

Quick Note Copyright law is a complex area of the law with a wide variety of opinions on it. Be careful: a great deal of info online is either incorrect or incomplete. This presentation seeks to increase our understanding of: ◦ What is Copyright and Copyright Infringement? ◦ What are some common exemptions for copyright? ◦ How do we apply copyright rules to a for-profit institution? How does copyright law affect us?

What is Copyright? Copyright is a protection that grants certain exclusive rights to a creator. Copyright infringement is when a nonowner of the copyright infringes an exclusive right. Copyright constantly deals with balancing an individuals right to protect their work (which promotes creativity) AND the public’s right to freely use information.

What rights does a copyright owner have? A copyright owner has the exclusive right to: ◦ Make and distribute copies ◦ Publicly perform or display ◦ Make derivative works

Our Policy: Go to Intranet: http: //lsps/sites/LINC/Pages/default. aspx Go to “Depts” Click on “Education” Click on “Policies & Procedures” Click on “Copyright Policy”

What is Copyright Infringement? “Any activity that falls within the scope of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner is prohibited as an infringement unless it is authorized by the copyright owner, excused by fair use, or another exemption. ” (From our policy) There are many educational exemptions, however, many of these only apply to nonprofit educational institutions.

Copyright in the Library It is an exception to copyright law that allows a library to make single photocopies for patrons. Do not use this exception to make unlimited copies. (This would financially harm the copyright holder. ) http: //www. section 108. gov

e. How versus Reality Example of misleading copyright information: ◦ http: //www. ehow. com/list_7230159_copyright -laws-showing-moviescollege. html#ixzz 1 W 43 Nk. G 46 Actual language: ◦ http: //www. law. cornell. edu/uscode/17/110. html

Purchasing an item does not give you unlimited rights Every copyright comes attached with important limitations for the user. EXAMPLE: You buy a copyright-protected music cd. As a consumer, you get the right to listen to the music, but not the right to duplicate it or make public performances of it. Showing material in the Lincoln classroom is considered public performance.

Public Performance A public performance is one that occurs "in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered. “ The classroom is considered a public place and therefore displaying copyright-protected. For-profit colleges DO NOT have an exemption for face-to-face teaching or online learning that non-profit colleges do.

What does that mean for us? Rule: In order play movies/video clips/music in the classroom, you must obtain the necessary public performance rights (PPR) or obtain permission from the copyright holder. Exceptions to this rule include fair use, public domain, and open courseware (Creative Commons). We will go over these later.

Getting Site License for DVDs/Videos (Public Performance Rights) If you want to show a copyrighted film in the classroom, you need to contact one of these companies to obtain permission/site license. Begin with Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. 1 -800 -876 -5577 Criterion Pictures, USA 1 -800 -890 -9494 Kino International 1 -800 -562 -3330 The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation Movie Licensing USA New Yorker Films 1 -800 -247 -6200

DVD Companies Films Media Group http: //www. filmsmediagroup. com/ Insight Media-Medical videos http: //www. insight-media. com/ Media Education Foundation www. mediaed. org Kantola Productions http: //www. kantola. com/index. aspx Ambrose Video: www. ambrosevideo. com The Learning Seed http: //www. learningseed. com/ Action! Library Media http: //www. actionlibrarymedia. com/ Video Education American www. veavideo. com Infobase Learning http: //infobaselearning. com/imprints. h tm The Video Project www. videoproject. com

Authorized by the Copyright Owner If you can get written permission from the Copyright owner, you can use it. Have your instructors check their textbooks for information on obtaining permission to make copies.

What if you don’t have permission? (PPR or direction authorization) You would rely on either: ◦ Fair use ◦ Public domain ◦ Open courseware (MIT and Stanford)

What is Fair Use? Fair Use is a principle that allows the public to use copyrighted work without permission if it is for: Teaching Criticism Scholarship Research Parody Comment http: //fairuse. stanford. edu/Copyright_and _Fair_Use_Overview/chapter 9/ http: //www. copyright. gov/fls/fl 102. html

Four Factors for Fair Use In deciding whether a user can claim fair use, the courts look at four factors: 1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes 2. The nature of the copyrighted work 3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole 4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work (http: //www. copyright. gov/fls/fl 102. html)

Public Domain Works in which the copyright has expired, or there is no copyright. For example, when using images, you can find websites for using public domain images. http: //www. public-domain-image. com/

Open Course. Ware There is currently a movement to freely license and share information without copyright concerns. “Open. Course. Ware free and openly licensed, accessible to anyone, anytime via the internet” http: //www. ocwconsortium. org/

Creative Commons New concept http: //creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc -nd/3. 0/ You. Tube license versus Creative Commons

Scenario One: An instructor uses the copier at a Lincoln campus to make copies of a textbook that he has not adopted for his course. These copies will be passed out in class for the students to review. He claims he needs more content for the course, and since he is using it for educational purposes it’s legal.

Scenario One Continued… Is this allowable? This instructor is breaking copyright law by making multiple copies and distributing to his class. This is not allowed because ◦ No exception to copyright law ◦ Does not meet Fair Use ◦ Since the textbook has a copyright, it is not in the public domain.

Scenario Two: An instructor borrows a DVD from the campus library/LRC, and shows the entire film in class. Is this legal?

Scenario Two Continued… It could be legal, but only if the DVD has “Public Performance Rights. ” In this case, the back of the DVD states “This copyrighted product has been manufactured and distributed by Warner Home Video, Inc. , and is authorized for sale or rental for private home use ONLY. ” Two solutions to this problem: ◦ Obtain a site license for the film, or ◦ Tell students they are responsible for renting and viewing the film on their own.

What Can I Use? Instructors can use Info. Trac if they want to make copies of articles from encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines, etc. Lincoln has paid for site licensing for the use of Info. Trac content. This is safer than going to the web.

Helpful Sites: http: //guides. library. jhu. edu/content. php? p id=22245&sid=159097 http: //www. copyrightlaws. com/ http: //www. ocwconsortium. org/ http: //www. public-domain-image. com/ http: //www. section 108. gov http: //www. copyright. gov/circs/circ 21. pdf

Summary The purpose of copyright law is to spread knowledge. It’s a balance between the creation of knowledge and the dissemination of knowledge.