How's This for a Short Copyright Review for My Students?

Here's what I am giving to my students next week. What do you think? I want it simple enough for them to pay attention, remember, and follow.


" Let's all check our sites and make sure we aren't violating copyright laws. We need to be absolutely sure we are not illegally posting pictures, lyrics, songs, games, artwork, graphics, text, etc. I'm pretty sure I will find that even some of my own pages need to be changed so I will be reviewing my sites again right along with you. The main thing to remember is: It is always much better write in your own words and post your own ideas, artwork, music, etc. Here are some details about the law:

1. You must go ahead and assume that all materials on the Internet -- including web sites and graphics -- are copyrighted.

2. Copyrighted material is basically anything that someone produces as part of their work or while expressing themselves. Anything can be copyrighted if it is their original product. Copyright is a legal right granted to authors, musicians, artists, etc. to encourage creativity and protect their ability to make a living from their work. Copyright also means the owner gets to decide how the work gets used.

3. There is something called a fair use exception that was created to allow people to use small bits of copyrighted items for commentary (discussion), parody (making fun of), news reporting, research or education without the permission of the author only if it doesn't harm or reduce the value of the material to the copyright holder. However, it is always safer to either get exact permission or at the very least, give credit before you use anyone else's product.

4. There is a new kind of copyright called Creative Commons licensing. Essentially it means that some producers of material may decide to allow others to use it. For example, an author may upload the work on the Internet and say that anybody can use it as long as the user does not make any money from it. But details vary, so let's talk before you rely on Creative Commons.

5. Did you know that if an author's rights expire or the author says so, the materials become part of the public domain, meaning anyone may use the material? However, this usually doesn't happen for a long, long time, sometimes 50 years after the work was copyrighted or 70 years after the last musician in the band dies! 6. In exact legalese, copyrighted work is "any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, which can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either with the aid of a machine or device."

CREDITS: http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/copyright/935/wipo_pub_935.pdf http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html http://www.cyberbee.com/copyrt.html http://www.electronic-school.com/2000/06/0600f2.html"