Copyright Act Definition
- Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.
- Section 107 of the Copyright Act gives much more detail of what is needed in order to determine if something is under fair use and also identifies the certain types of uses.
There are 4 factors that should be included when determining if a piece of work is particularly a case of fair use:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a 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; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
This Act is unique because of the ability to use copyrighted material without permission the owner. We can pull information from that material and not be afraid of getting in trouble, because of our freedom and rights we have when it comes to accessing copyrighted material.
• Revenue increased by more than five percent from 2006 to 2007.
• Fair use companies employed an additional
100,000 workers.
• U.S. exports by fair use industries expanded by nearly 12 percent to $281 billion.
• U.S. exports by fair use industries expanded by nearly 12 percent to $281 billion.
PE Central, SPARK, and SHAPE America are all examples of websites and resources I can use to help formulate a lesson or unit. It is important to understand our rights with fair use. As a physical educator, I can pull lesson ideas from these websites and create/modify my own with our getting in trouble for not citing my source every time.
Resources:
https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/04/fairuseeconomy.pdf
http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/
As teachers this Fair Use comes in really handy because as you mentioned, we can pull from and use materials so we do not have to always be original with our activities and assignments. In my current placement my teacher will use a lot of pre-made worksheets or activities for non-profit educational purposes instead of reconstructing his own worksheets. In your current placement can you think of an instance where you or your Cooperating Teacher have been benefited by or taken advantage of this law? Have you found any examples of Fair Use in your research that pertain to areas besides education?
ReplyDeleteMy CT takes advantage of this law often. As an ELA teacher in an urban school with little funding, we're able to use short stories without having to pay for them as resources for our students. It's really helpful since we don't have to purchase books for certain units because we can make due with interesting short stories we've found online or have photocopied from a book of short stories. And, of course, students love it since they're not responsible for reading a full book.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow PE teacher, I know how often we teachers share ideas and group games that make for effective instruction. SPARK and SHAPE have great lessons that we have also used in my elementary placement. We have modified the games for our students needs and for the resources that we have. We benefit from the ideas of others, and this law allows us to give back by sharing our own ideas on a personal blog or submitting our lessons on these popular websites!
ReplyDeleteThis law makes all of our lives as teachers much easier. If we all had to come up with our own completely original lessons or activities we would all lose our minds. I know as a mth teacher, I am constantly looking for great lessons that I can tweak for my classroom. I usually never use a lesson exactly as I find it. I make sure that I make the proper adjustments to fit the dynamics of my classroom. Just like Hannah said this law allows us to then share our ideas with the teaching community. Lesson plans can constantly be improved and tweaked to help students all across the country and the world.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I regularly take advantage of this and encourage all educators to use what resources they find.
ReplyDelete