Copyright

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Permalink Reply by Paul Anderson on January 1, 2011 at 1:14pm

What exactly are you trying to use?  From what I can see, the site is just a big search engine to find  icons.  From what I can see, looking at some of the icons / icon packs, each one can come with its own license.  The license that covers the icons / icon packs will determine what rights you have to their use.  Also what you plan on doing with your lesson, will also have a good deal to do with it.  If you plan on selling or distributing your lesson in any way, it will be different than if you plan on using it for your own use.  When I click on the little "i" in the upper right of each icon, it displays some of the licensing information.  A lot of them seem to be freeware or Creative Commons of some sort.  So it will depend on the license of the icons you plan on using, as long as you adhere to the terms listed, you should be fine. So the answer is YES, as long as you follow the terms.

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Permalink Reply by Evaggelos on January 1, 2011 at 6:55pm

Icons? Oy! You have to be careful because they may have the word "free" everywhere but the images may be not be free. I have seen image sites where the word free is embedded in the URL but the images are not free. A student of mine used a copyrighted image that he got from a museum site. Several months later I received a call from a person who worked at the museum and I was asked to remove the image immediately. The image name on our site was exactly the same as the museum one.

I hope this information help you in some way.

 

<edit>I looked at the legal information there and you only responsibility is to provide correct information when you register.</edit>

 

<second edit>Be careful when using the site in front of students because it has targeted advertising.</second edit>

 

Evaggelos

Online School Records

Blog

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Permalink Reply by Robin Phares on January 1, 2011 at 10:03pm

Thank you for your responses.  I use the images when making IWB lessons for my district.  Students are not on the site at all. I do not plan on selling them, however, I do post them on http://www.mimioconnect.com/.  I think I am just going to play it safe and stop posting them and only use them for my district. 

I really am trying to be a role model for my district when it comes to copyright.  There are many teachers who just allow students to go to "google images" for their projects.  That drives me nuts! 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Anderson on January 2, 2011 at 9:20pm

When it comes to copyright there can be lots of different terms of the copyright.  You shouldn't be afraid of copyright, read the terms of the copyrighted material and abide by them. Sometimes copyright will give you more rights, rather than less, so you should always read the terms. There are many different places to get free images that even though they are copyrighted, are completely legal for you to use, as long as you follow the terms.  Creative Commons has many different ways that can be used to copyright material.  I think too many times people either ignore copyright or they fear it, instead of learning it  There is the fair use part of the copyright law that does give you some rights.  Most LMC Specialists can help with explaining on what is fair use and what isn't.  ( From my understanding, most  of the time, pictures for student projects should fall under fair use, as long as citations are included).  If you have any question on any particular use, I would ask your LMC Specialist.  When there is doubt, leave it out! 

Good luck on the lessons!

 

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