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Understanding Copyright and Fair Use

By Copyright, Fair Use 2 Comments

License: CC0 Public Domain

Let’s Understand Copyright and Fair Use

Last week, I attended an online session by Advocate Anirudh Hariani to understand Copyright and its implications for a librarian in an education world.  

What is copyright?

Here is the Copyright Handbook (India) which should not be replaced for the copyright rules and law. According to the copyright handbook of India,  “Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. There could be slight variations in the composition of the rights depending on the work.”

In short, the creator of any creative original works is the copyright owner of the works and he/she has certain rights over their creation.

What do creative original works mean? 

In short, creative works include:

  • Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;
  • Cinematograph films; and
  • Sound recordings.
  • Painting, a sculpture, a drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), an engraving or a photograph, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality;
  • Work of architecture; and artistic craftsmanship.

How does information and knowledge in our society grow?

Society’s knowledge and growth take place on the creative works of others.  What one scientist does, or an author writes, becomes an inspiration for others to create and help take the society forward. 

Therefore, ideas need to be acknowledged, appreciated so that society can flourish. Therefore, creators like writers, artists and software programmers and others are acknowledged, appreciated and this is done by giving them the protection and ownership of his/her works through copyright.

What are the exclusive rights given to the creator of the original work?

What can the copyright owner do with the rights? The copyright laws give exclusive rights to the creator:

  •  To reproduce the work
  • To issue copies of the work to the public
  • To perform the work in public
  • To communicate the work to the public.
  • To make cinematograph film or sound recording in respect of the work
  • To make any translation of the work
  • To make any adaptation of the work.

And he/she has copyright rights for approximately his life span + 65 years (time span differs depending on the creative works). It protects the creator of the artistic work.

Strict application protecting the copyright may hamper economic and social development. So, therefore, the government has provided necessary exceptions and limitations to ensure a balance for the creators and growth of the community. 

What are the exemptions?

Can we use works of authors without the permission of the owner of the copyright, and, if so, what are they? And How?

  • We can use the copyright works 
  • For the purpose of research or private study
  • For criticism or review
  • For reporting current events 
  • In connection with a judicial proceeding 
  • Performance by an amateur club or society if the performance is given to a non-paying audience, and 
  • The making of sound recordings of literary, dramatic or musical works under certain conditions.

What about Education and Copyright?

Educators and schools use purchased copyrighted materials like textbooks and teacher resources to teach students. Points to know:

  1. India often refers to TRIPS – Article 13 and Berne Convention whereby people can use the creative works of others but must not unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright holder (author/creator)
  2. Fair Dealing must balance the rights of “Pool of Ideas” to create a robust and vibrant domain and not be an impediment to social growth.
  3. ‘‘Substantial’ Materials can be photocopied to support independent research and learning of school (however, we must be careful not to infringe on the interests of the copyright holder as far as possible.)
  4. The copied work must be transformative in nature.

For more information, check out this 1 hr explanation of the Vidhya Mitra Or the Recording of Copyright discussion with Advocate Anirudh Hariani

So, the question arises – what does ‘substantial’ amount mean? What does it mean by ‘unreasonable prejudice’? This varies on a case by case. For example, a jingle is a short phrase, if you use a substantial part? Will it be an infringement of the creator’s copyright or can we use a part of it under Fair Use?   Therefore, it is necessary to understand infringement based on various criteria mentioned below.

What is Fair Use?

Fair Use is a part of copyright law that enables people to make legal  use of copyrighted materials without payment or permission under some circumstances, especially for uses related to broad and important social goals to the development of innovation and spread of knowledge including teaching and learning, news reporting, scholarship, criticism and commentary

4 factors that determine  or tell you that you are using the copyright materials under Fair Use Guideline

  1. Check – Purpose of the use
  2. Check – Nature of the copyrighted work
  3. Check – The amount and substantiality of the portion 
  4. Check – Whether it affects the market for the original?

What about educators/librarians in the Education Space?

Technology has made is very easy for us to copy & paste from the Internet and so what is my job as an educator and/or librarian

What is my responsibility as an educator? As an educator, I need to:

  1. Learn the facts about copyright
  2. When in doubt, get permission
  3. Demonstrate respect for copyright material 
  4. Learn about Fair Use
  5. Demonstrate use of Fair Use by evaluating and thinking critically
  6.  Understand the Creative Common Licenses 

Individuals/educators have 4 choices when using copyrighted material (texts and images)

  1.  Pay a license fee (Ask permission)
  2.  Claim fair use ( Just use it – analyse it under the 4 criteria)
  3.  Select public domain or royalty-free or creative commons licensed content
  4.  Don’t use it

Please know that everything is written or online is copyrighted. attached to all work. Even if the sign does not exist – it is still copyrighted.

What does it mean to our Students:

  • Students will learn and need to respect the work of others by paraphrasing and not copy & paste
  • Students will acknowledge the works of others and  learn to cite their sources using  citation tools like easybib.com or citation machine 
  • Young students in the primary section could at least cite the title and author of the book, magazine and/or websites and develop the habit of making references

You may use this Common Sense Media – Copyright and Fair Use video to teach students about Copyright & Fair Use. 

There are many Open Education Projects that support open education. They are: 

Understanding Fair Use and Infringement may be unclear. Using for educational purposes does not necessarily make a use fair. Nor does using a portion of a copyrighted work for commercial purposes make it unfair.

Therefore THINK and  ASK? –  Is it TRANSFORMATIVE?

Frequently asked questions about Copyright & Fair Use?

Q1. Can I take information and ideas from the internet to create my lesson plans and do I need to cite it all the time?

Answer: Yes, you can take ideas and information to create lesson plans. You do not have to cite it all the time. You are creating the lesson plans under the fair use guidelines for education, and not for personal gain, and the purpose is to educate students, you can use them as lesson plans. 

Q2. Can I take information and ideas from the internet and create my own book and sell?

Answer: Yes, you can take information but you will need to cite your sources. Your new work must be transformative in nature and can exist without impediment to the sale of your source. It needs to be different. However, you can add hyperlinks to other known sites and information to your work.

Q3. Can I circulate pdfs of books like Magic Tree House, Two States,  Meluha, Tinkle magazines, Amar Chitra Katha, books by Enid Blyton etc for educational purposes?

Answer: No, you cannot circulate these books which are copyrighted, even if it’s for educational purposes because it directly affects the sale and market of the creator. You may circulate books that are in the public domain and available directly by the publishers or authors?

Q4. How do I know that the information is free to use on the Internet?

Answer: You will need to look at the licenses of the author/illustrator/photographers provided by them. You will need to learn about Creative Common Licenses.

Q5. When can I teach students about fair use and copyright?

Ans: You can teach students about fair use and copyright,  right from Kindergarten choosing appropriate examples and opportunities especially when they are doing projects. For example, KG and Std 1 students can show and tell where they got the information from – whether it is a book, from people or from the internet. As they move into the upper primary section, they can write the title of the book, write the website name and finally move them into citing their sources appropriately. And, most important is that students will need to paraphrase and share their views and opinions based on her/his research.

Q6. Can I use an image from the internet under the Educational Fair Use Guidelines?

Answer: 1. As an ethical user of information, it is necessary for you and the students to use images from stock photos, Google images  — after you have used the filter for copyright-free images, Pic4Learning Creative Commons Search

2. Playing ignorant and using copyright images under fair use guidelines, is not being ethical.

Q7. I want to use a copyrighted image or text – Could I still use it?

Answer: Yes, you can use it however, you will need to justify the use under these guidelines: 

  1. Am I using it for educational purposes?
  2. Ask what license is the present work that you are taking
  3. How much are you taking – all or some?
  4. Does it have an impact on the market value of the original?
  5. Have I repurposed the work?

The concept of copyright in Education is a moral and ethical matter.  As an ethical educator, it is necessary, especially when the educator is showcasing, or running a professional discussion, or sharing learning and teaching in the public space outside the classroom it is a good practice to cite the references, thus adding credibility to your work while acknowledging the work of others

Works Cited: 

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Media Education Lab, Center for Social Media, 2008.

“A Handbook of Copyright Law.” Hand Book of Copyright Law, Government of India Department For Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Ministry of Commerce and Industry, copyright.gov.in/Documents/handbook.html.

Hobbs, Renee, and Donna E. Alvermann. Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning. Corwin, 2010.

 

Plagiarism: Take it seriously!

By Copyright, General, Information Literacy, Research Skills No Comments

Recently, a few poets accused Ailey O’Toole of selecting parts of their poetry and using it in her poetry to express herself. Incidentally, she was also nominated for the Pushcart Prize for her poem Gun Metal (which was plagiarized). The Guardian has all the details about the case. This incident made several publishers pull down O’Toole’s Works from their sites.  Although she has been very apologetic about the accidental plagiarism, I noticed that her credibility has been affected and her future works will be always be looked at with doubt and skepticism.

Reflecting on the past I have noticed, how quickly I have merely ‘copied and pasted’. I have rationalized saying, “this is exactly what I want to say” so why to reword it, simply ‘copy and paste’ and this will save my time and effort. Well, if that is the intent of saving time and effort, then what I have also learned is to take an extra minute or two to put it in “Quotes” and cite the author’s name. What about you? Are you guilty of plagiarizing too?

Examples of plagiarism are many, here are a few International examples, NDTV has compiled a few Indian cases and a story about 3 Academic Thefts by professors in Rajasthan.

iPleaders Blog Post on Plagiarism law gives us a glimpse of India’s views on plagiarism. This makes me wonder and reflect on our Indian Education System. In the local schools, I  have observed that students photocopy school notes and college notes, memorize them and then finally regurgitate the content in their exams, to get scores or marks that will make him/her eligible to one of the best colleges in India. Are we preparing our students for a ‘copy and paste’ world or do we want them to think, reflect and create?

I wonder how will this individual function in the real world? How will he/she respond ethically in the information world, where he/she has not learned to paraphrase and use his/her thinking faculties to express ideas or create something unique?

Here are simple six steps by Write Check to avoid plagiarism. BibMe recommends other ways. Some important ones I have learned are to:

  1. Use multiple sources of information to get a perspective and in-depth knowledge on the topic.
  2. Acknowledge one’s ideas, beliefs and thoughts that are gathered after much reading.
  3. Paraphrasing correctly and not merely replacing parts of a sentence with synonyms but also the syntax of the sentences.
  4. When quoting other peoples work, it’s important to give credit.
  5. Using a proper citing format according to the discipline.

Using a plagiarism checker can be very helpful when writing, it helps prevent accidental plagiarism.  Invest in one; it’s worth it!

Copyright & Fair Use

By Copyright, Fair Use No Comments

The Purpose of Copyright Law is to protect the interests of the authors/creators, but also to promote the progress of science and the useful arts—that is—knowledge. 

Remember ideas are not copyrighted – content is. For example, if an author uses a Whale in his story, can’t we also use the animal whale in our story? BUT we cannot copy the same story as our own. Remember, people, create ideas from other people’s ideas.

Copyright law is an attempt to balance public interest with the rights of the individual author/creator

Let’s understand Fair Use. Fair use is an Exemption in the Copyright law. Indian Copyright Law and easier interpretation of Indian Copyright

Fair Use is a part of copyright law that enables people to make legal  use of copyrighted materials without payment or permission under some circumstances, especially for uses related to broad and important social goals to the development of innovation and spread of knowledge including teaching and learning, news reporting, scholarship, criticism, and commentary

To know you are following the FAIR USE- consider these 4 Factors that determine Fair Use

Purpose of the use – For education, research or public viewing (not permitted)
Nature of the copyrighted work – published or unpublished, fiction or nonfiction?
The amount and substantiality of the portion –Whether you are using 10% or 1/2 or the main plot of the writing piece (fiction or nonfiction
Effect of the use on the market for the original – effect on the marketing and sales of the produced work.

Please do not use this as a checklist, use critical skills to analyze using all of these four factors.

  1. Make copies of newspaper articles, TV shows, and other copyrighted works and use them and keep them for educational use
  2. Create curriculum materials and scholarship with copyrighted materials embedded (Credit/Attribute)
  3. Share, sell and distribute curriculum materials with copyrighted materials embedded                                                                                                                                                             Using for educational purpose does not necessarily make a use fair Nor does using a portion of a copyrighted work for commercial purposes make it unfair – Inspired by Renee Hobbs

                      Therefore THINK and  ASK? –  Is it TRANSFORMATIVE