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Common Misconceptions about Copyright & Intellectual Property
Common Misconceptions About Copyright & Intellectual Property
Fair Use:
Fair use is a defense one would assert if one were being sued for copyright infringement, NOT a term that can be used to justify copyright infringement. If you plan to incorporate any portion of a copyrighted work into your own, and you have not received permission to do so from the copyright holder, you are placing yourself at risk of violating copyright.
A Fair Use assessment consists of four factors:
Purpose and Character of the Use: Educational Use falls under this factor, but you still need to satisfy the other three factors.
Nature of the Copyrighted Work: This factor relates to the amount of creative labor that went into the production of the work in question.
Amount and Substantiality of Work: See below, Ten Percent Rule/ One Chapter Rule
Effect on the Market or Value: If what you are providing serves as a substitute for purchase, rather than an enticement to purchase, you are affecting the market. In the academic context this includes posting any portion of a copyrighted textbook online. Since your students are the sole market, this action is undoubtedly affecting the market.
Fair use does not apply to the creation of OERs. Materials must either be open sourced or you must receive permission from the creator.
The Mickey Mouse Rule: There is no truth to the common belief that copyright terms are continually extended to prevent certain properties from falling into the public domain. This erroneous notion is often applied to the mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse—hence the term "Mickey Mouse Rule." The "Rule," however, only makes sense if one is unaware of the many legal tools used to protect intellectual property in the United States: patent, right of publicity, trade secret, and trademark, among others. Mickey Mouse is the subject of close to fifty trademarks covering a wide variety of goods and services. Unlike copyright, which has term limits, trademarks can exist in perpetuity so long as they are being used in commerce.
See, e.g., Mickey Mouse Logo Trademark no. 77623965
Online Equals Free: Just because a resource appears on the Internet does not automatically place it in the public domain. Do not assume you may use an online resource unless it was posted by the copyright holder (author, publisher), and has no other warnings prohibiting use. Additionally, do not be fooled by a .edu web address. Just because a resource appears on an academic website does not mean that the copyright holder has granted permission.
You can find an "OER Version" of a Copyrighted Work: If a work is copyrighted, then by definition no version of that work exists outside of copyright. You may be able to find a work that covers similar topics or subject matter, but you will not be able to find an "OER Version" of the same text.
The US Copyright Office provides circulars and factsheets with
similar information on copyright, as well as the opportunity to search registered
copyrights.
The US Patent and Trademark Office is a good first stop for
information on trademarks and patents, from the most basic information (what is a patent
or trademark?) to the more advanced (how can I file for a patent or trademark?). Users
can search existing patents and trademarks, and learn more about which protection is
applicable to a given situation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) provides information about intellectual property generally, and intellectual property
outside of the United States.
Peter Hirtle, Intellectual Property Officer for the Cornell
University Libraries, created a chart explaining copyright terms and when items fall into
the public domain. This can be used to determine whether copyright permissions (or fair
use calculations) will be needed for a given item.
Brigham Young University created a “Copyright 101”
tutorial for students, faculty, and anyone else looking to learn more about copyright law.
The course features information on the purpose and history of copyright law, duration of
copyright law, permissions, and fair use and other exemptions; and provides case studies
for users to test their knowledge in simulated real-world situations.
Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
working with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) developed an online course
entitled, “Copyright for Librarians.” The course can be taken at five different levels,
based on prior user knowledge, and features modules on copyright issues pertaining to
libraries, copyright law generally, enforcement mechanisms, public domain, rights
management, and more.
Understanding fair use in U.S. copyright law is essential for anyone using copyright-protected materials. Fair use is ambiguous and it can be overwhelming to apply it to your own situations. Inform yourself about the facts of fair use and how it works. Be an educated decision maker when determining whether fair use applies to your specific circumstances. This article provides essential information that you can immediately apply to your own situations and fair use analyses.
OER-QMS, Creative Commons, and other Open Licensing
OER-QMS License
Created by Professor Adam J. McKee, the OER-QMS License "is inspired by the GNU licenses used by software developers and the Creative Commons licenses. These licenses, however, result in many iterations of content that are not updated and corrected as time passes. The purpose of this license is to offer content creators the right to maintain a single, high-quality source that they control and maintain such that quality can be preserved over time."
Creative Commons
Creative Commonsis a non profit organization which specializes in licenses and other technical tools which allow an author/creator to give permission for their work to be:
Used freely, but prohibit the creation of derivatives (ND)
Shared Alike, with any derivatives sharing the license given to the original work (SA)
Creative Commons asserts that it is NOT anti-copyright and states:
"CC licenses are copyright licenses, and depend on the existence of copyright to work. CC licenses are legal tools that creators and other rights holders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Those who want to make their work available to the public for limited kinds of uses while preserving their copyright may want to consider using CC licenses. Others who want to reserve all of their rights under copyright law should not use CC licenses."
Check out the University of Pittsburgh Library System'sCopyright and Intellectual Property Rights Toolkit for a more detailed look at copyright, creative commons, intellectual property rights, and what users and creators need to know.