Copyrights & Fair Use in Education

Before copying material for educational purposes, teachers must be aware of the rules of fair use.

There is a large amount of information available to teachers that is highly pertinent to lessons they are teaching but is protected by copyright laws. The fair use law allows teachers to use copyrighted information under certain situations and according to certain restrictions.

Definition

Any work of a creative nature is protected by copyright law.

A copyright is a right associated with an original work of art, literature, film, music and other forms of a creative nature. The author or creator has exclusive rights to control reproduction, distribution, adaptations and displays of the work; no one else may use, copy or alter it.

Fair Use

You generally may copy short passages from books when used once.

Educators can use copyrighted material for specific educational purposes only temporarily. A teacher must purchase the material if she wants to use it repeatedly. The "fair use" law provides guidelines for educators to follow when using copyrighted material. For example, they can use single paragraphs of written works, but they can copy entire chapters only in works that are less than 5,000 words. The sections copied cannot reflect the entire essence of the source content, and copying should not cause any reduction in sales.

Restrictions

Making multiple copies of workbook pages constitutes copyright infringement unless you have permission to copy.

Teachers may not make multiple copies in order to avoid buying textbooks. Consumable materials such as workbooks cannot be copied unless copying rights are a part of the purchase. Teachers must destroy copies of television broadcasts after 45 days.

Ethics

There are ethical concerrns regarding the reproduction of materials for educational purposes.

Teachers have an ethical responsibility to be diligent and show integrity and trustworthiness when using copyrighted material, just as they expect students to avoid plagiarism and not cheat on assignments and tests.

Books and Periodicals

Magazines and other timely publications must follow certain guidelines for use in the classroom.

In certain situations, teachers may make multiple copies for one-time use with a specific lesson. Teachers may keep one copy for research and lesson planning purposes. Books, newspapers and magazines have a limit of 5,000 words or 10 percent of the material, whichever is less.

Images, Art, Music, Film and Broadcasts

Music and other media have special copyright restrictions.

Teachers can copy no more than five images of an artist and not more than 10 percent of images from published collective works. Educators may not alter an image. Teachers may make a single copy of three minutes or 10 percent, whichever is less, of film and videotape productions. Music in all forms including sheet music, songs, disks or cassette taped recordings must follow the same guidelines.

References

• Cathy Newsome: A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright