Copyright Is...

I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of copyright... but when I began to read up on it I realized that there were some pretty big holes in my knowledge.  I looked at Open Spaces- Views from the Northwest and Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers.  I learned that the actual copyright clause is very specific in it purpose and the rights that authors are granted is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."  This translates into promoting the progress of knowledge and learning while allowing the creator ownership for a period of time.  This author of Open Spaces also had some good information about the history of copyrighting and how it originated to protect musicians and booksellers.  


What I didn't realize is that copyrights today have a dark side.  The misunderstanding that copyright is to protect authors from those who would steal their work is creating a tool of censorship and oppression.  The current copyright law keeps all work of an author, or artist under their control for the duration of their lifetime plus 70 years after their death.  Originally copyright only lasted 28 years before it entered the public domain.  This is creating a situation where knowledge and learning is available for access but because of copyright it is unsharable without actually repurchasing the information or dealing with the copyright owners.  


Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976 established limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holder.  This was termed "Fair Use" and the factors for determining it are 
            (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.

I really liked the Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines because they were written out in a table format to understand what copyright was for different mediums, and then the specifics, what one can do about it, and the fine print.  This page is a great resource to use as a teacher when providing information to a classroom and worried about copyrights.  It has the information needed for a teacher to use when making copies of a short story, poem, book, images or videos.  I didn't realize before reading this that a teacher can make copies of short printed material as long as it is no more than one copy per student, it is only used nine times per class term, and the copies are made from a legally acquired text.