Copy+Cats

**What is Copyright?**
Students (and teachers) can sometimes be guilty of using someone's work without permission. According to Webster's dictionary the definition of copyright is as follows: //the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)//

Some of the penalties for using someone's work without permission ( infringement) are: (Courtesy of Purdue University)
 * 1) The person who uses the work without permission (Infringer) pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits.
 * 2) The law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work used without permission (infringed.)
 * 3) The person who uses the work without permission (Infringer) pays for all attorneys fees and court costs.
 * 4) The Court can issue an injunction to stop the person from using the work without permission.
 * 5) The Court can take away (impound) the illegal works.
 * 6) The person who uses the work without permission (infringer) can go to jail.

Pretty scary, right? Below, please watch a video by YouTube created for those certain individuals who broke copyright law when posting copyrighted material to their sites: YouTube Copyright School

Want some answers to some of your burning questions? Check out Reading the Fine Print with Cop E. Wright!

How much do you know about what you CAN and CAN'T use from the Internet? Take this short quiz to test your copyright smarts with this short quiz from Copyright Kids!


 * Now, can you answer these questions?**
 * 1) What is copyright infringement?
 * 2) What are some ways copyright laws can be broken?
 * 3) How can one prevent copyright infringement?

= The History of Copyright =

Watch the following video on the History of Copyright


 * 1) How does a copyright protect you?
 * 2) How can you create your own copyright today?


 * Now, can you answer these questions?**
 * 1) Why do teachers require students to take notes (rather than just copy and paste) when we research?
 * 2) Why is it dangerous to write complete sentences when we research?
 * 3) If I rearrange sentences and take out several words, is it still considered plagiarism?
 * 4) What can be some consequences of plagiarizing?

=Transformative Use---You Be the Judge=


 * Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?
 * Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings? ("Copyright and Fair Use")


 * Think about the questions stated above, make a judgement on the following (provide a reference to support your statement):**

1. Peter likes to create music on Fruity Loops. He takes the audio sounds(over 15,000), mixes them together creating compositions of his own. He takes his compositions and adds them to a YouTube account to share them with others. He downloads examples of other people's work to listen to. Is Peter breaking the law in any way?

2. Joe is assigned to create a powerpoint for the state of Maine. He is to include a slide showing location, state flower/motto, industries, history, government, and other pertinent information. He uses images from the internet, quotes some texts and takes photos of areas he knows that will be useful. Is Joe legally allowed to do this?

3. Betty wants to add a picture of Justin Beiber to her blog; she finds one and copies it to her webpage. Is Betty violating copyright laws?

4. Jess's friend Bill, a professional photographer, just bought Photoshop and tells Jess that it is the best photo editing software he's used. Jess is an amateur photographer and would like to have the software as well, but it costs $700 and she cannot afford it. Bill hands Jess the software and tells her to go ahead and download it on her computer. Because Jess will not be selling any of her photos, she happily thanks Bill and downloads it. Are Bill and Jess obeying copyright laws?

5. Sarah and Alice are using popular rap music tunes to provide the framework for a retelling of the Greek myths of Pandora's Box and Arachne. Is this a proper use of copyrighted material?

=How do I give credit or cite sources?= As you learned when you explored the "What is Copyright?" section, you must give credit when you use anything that was created by someone else. Use the following links to help guide you when you cite sources.

Bibliography

WorksCited4u

[|Easy Bib]

Another short video (1min.) on giving proper credit. credit

Reflections
After exploring copyright and fair use (updates) what new understandings do you have? Write a paragraph demonstrating the knowledge you have now, compare it with what you knew before.


 * References:**

1. "Copyright 2001, The Copyright Society of the U.S.A.," and the following acknowledgment also included: "These materials are reproduced from the copyrightkids.org website courtesy of Friends of Active Copyright Education (FA©E), an initiative of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.." http://www.copyrightkids.org

2. "Copyright and Fair Use." Stanford University Libraries, web. 2010. (this work is licensed under a [|Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License]). http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html

3. "Teaching Copyright," Electronic Frontier Foundation [|Teaching Copyright] http://www.teachingcopyright.org

4. http://grove.ufl.edu/~idh3931/copyright_scenarios.html

5. "Transformative Use of Copyright Material," Nicolas Suzor BinfTech LLB LLM Thesis, QUT School of Law, 2006. []

6. **// "Digital Ethics," Lee's Summit R7 School District //**, 2011.[| Digital Ethics]

7. School of Communications and Theater, Media Education Lab Temple University, 2009. [|Digital Media]

8. Kenneth Martin, National Writing Project, 2011.[| Copyright Clarity]

9. [|Creative Commons]

10. Tangient LLC., 2011. copyright confusion

11. "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education." School of Communications American University, Center for Social Media, American University, 2011.[| center for social media]

12.[| YouTube Copyright School]

13. Copyright Checklist