Copyright and Fair Use

This page provides links to a number of useful resources for educators.

Copyright

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

United States Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov

Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the U. S. Code
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

Chafee Amendment to the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §121)
http://www.loc.gov/nls/reference/factsheets/copyright.html

IDEA Title III Amendment to Copyright (addition of large print to formats covered by Chafee)
http://aim.cast.org/learn/policy/federal/idea2004

Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/

EFF Teaching Copyright
http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

EFF Teaching Copyright Resource Page
http://www.teachingcopyright.org/resources

EFF Blogs Related to Accessibility for Reading Disabled
http://www.eff.org/related/8107/blog

U.S. Public Law 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860, 2877. 28 October 1998. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Title II Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitations (amending chapter 5, Title 17 U.S.C. §512).
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en

EFF Resource Page related to WIPO
http://www.eff.org/issues/wipo

Fair Use

Educators often refer to the “fair use” exclusion in copyright statute as a means to provide materials to students who cannot use print-based materials effectively; however, the term and the exclusion are often used without sufficient knowledge of the elements upon which “fair use” is based. The four elements of “fair use” included in Section 107 of U. S. copyright code should be understood along with the limitations that apply to its use.

Section 300.172, Final Regulations of IDEA 2004 indicates that provisions must be made for providing instructional materials in accessible formats to students with disabilities (served under the Act)—

who are not included under the definition of blind or other persons with print disabilities,
when the materials are not producible from NIMAS files, and
in a timely manner… “at the same time as other children receive instructional materials” or however “timely manner” is defined by a state.

The four factors for determining fair use include—

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational 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.

AIM Center Webinar Archive for AIM Basics (8/10/10)
http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/ilinc/Archive.AIM.Basics.8.10.10/index.html

University of Minnesota Libraries Copyright Tools
http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/

Fair Use Analysis tool—four factor review of your proposed use
http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/checklist.phtml

NCTE Code of Best Practice in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education
http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/fairusemedialiteracy

Wikipedia Fair Use page with reference to relevant case law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Digital Rights Management

Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies attempt to control what can and cannot be done with media and hardware.

Rule-Making on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

The Librarian of Congress has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making noninfringing uses of (the following six) classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) until the conclusion of the next rule-making.
(6) Literary works distributed in e-book format when all existing e-book editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

EFF DRM Resource Page
http://www.eff.org/issues/drm