What is Copyright and Fair Use?

Having been in the field of education for only a few years, I find teachers to be among the most generous, helpful professionals I have worked with. It is our job to help our students succeed, and in attempting to do so, we also want our colleagues to succeed as well. Often times, we share anything and everything we come across that could help our students grasp a concept, or potentially assist another educator, without really giving consideration to the content creator whose works we are "borrowing". That being said, a lot of teachers, myself included, are probably guilty of copyright infringement in some way or another when it comes to our classroom.

What exactly is copyright? Dictionary.com defines it as "the legal right granted to an author, a composer, a playwright, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work." The goal behind copyright laws are to protect creators ability to make money, with the idea that being fairly compensated for your created material motivates you to create more. The laws are also meant to give the creator more of a say in how their content is used.

When it comes to fair use, it is a doctrine in which copyrighted works may be used under a few specific circumstances which include: for criticism and commentary, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and classroom instruction. These are exceptions which allow for use of copyrighted works without the need to ask explicitly for permission, but a good rule of thumb is when in doubt, just ask for permission.

According to educationworld.com There are very specific guidelines when it comes to fair use. Those guidelines allow educators, under most circumstances, to copy

• a single chapter from a book
• an excerpt from a work that combines language and illustrations, such as a children's book, not exceeding two pages or 10 percent of the work, whichever is less
• a poem of 250 words or less or up to 250 words of a longer poem
• an article, short story, or essay of 2,500 words or less, or excerpts of up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of a longer work, whichever is less; or
• a single chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

The guidelines do not allow users to

• make multiple copies of different works as a substitute for the purchase of books or periodicals
• copy the same works for more than one semester, class, or course
• copy the same work more than nine times in a single semester
• use copyrighted work for commercial purposes
• use copyrighted work without attributing the author.

The major consideration to keep in mind when using copyrighted material is whether it could potentially take away earned income from the creator of the work. If so, it's probably copyright infringement.