Copyright+&+“Fair+Use”+exemption

Tiffany Tavella, Elena Facchinei, Dayna Tropeano

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"Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of 'original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works" ( http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf ). This was brought upon awareness in the 1976 Copyright Act. This act gives rights to the owner of the work while they allow others to: The list goes on and on. This also includes music, movies, and art. The only person who can claim copyright is the author of the work. The co owners of works are both owners of the copyright unless an agreement is made. The way that a person can get a copyright is by completing an application as well as submitting a nonrefundable filing fee. Things that are not copyrighted include choreography (that has not been recorded), short phrases, procedures, and works that consist of information, such as height and weight charts. Copyright information is presented usually in the beginning of a book, or at the end of a photocopy. In most cases, copyright infringement is not tolerated and consequences are made based on what was done without prior consent.
 * make photocopies to distribute
 * create work based on the work copyrighted
 * distribute photocopies of the copied work
 * display the work publicly

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Copyright Impact It is a fair assumption to say that a lot of professionals and students take pride in the individual work that they create. Without copyright laws, anyone would be able to steal anyone’s work at any time and claim it as their own. Or even worse, someone would be able to butcher a work into something that the rightful owner does not believe in or agree with. Although copyright laws affect everyone everyday, how do these laws impact students specifically? For starters, students must complete their own work at all times. This may sound obvious, however, students always have excuses and reasons for shortcuts. For instance, if a student is lazy or doesn't understand the assignment, they would be taking the “easy way out” if they google the topic and use the findings as his or her own. These days it is extremely easy for students to plagiarize because of the Internet. There are millions of websites that provide summaries, essays, and viewpoints on almost any topic, which can be very tempting for younger students. Also, the copyright laws make it difficult for students to work together. For example, if two friends are in the same class and they are assigned a book report on the same book, they are unable to work together because their work may sound similar. As a student, it almost feels as if you are constantly walking on eggshells while you are doing your work. It is overwhelming to use sources for essays and papers because you must always be careful when you are quoting and paraphrasing other people. Although these copyright laws are extremely important, they are way too general to be enforced at every school. In order to make sure that these laws are enforced, every school has their own plagiarism penalties and rules. Therefore, the copyright laws also have an impact on the school systems. Schools must provide guidelines of their rules and penalties on copyright laws to students in order to motivate them to follow the laws. To generate more motivation, schools must provide knowledge of the laws, for example, how to properly cite sources. Schools provide the students with knowledge of the laws, students are expected to follow the laws, and the teachers are expected to make sure that the students are following the laws as they grade and review assignments.

Daily Instruction Grades 5-8: Creating a hypothetic copyright character is a quick and easy reminder for students of this age to recall the copyright laws. For example, we have the easter bunny that represents Easter and santa that represents Christmas. Whenever someone says “easter bunny” or “santa” we think of the corresponding holiday. We could create a character that represents copyright laws such as “Captain Copyright.” This will remind the children of the laws every time the teacher says the name as they will immediately think of what the character represents. For instance, if a student were to hand in an assignment, a teacher could ask, “Would Captain Copyright approve of this assignment?” This is a simple, more appealing way for the teacher to ask the student if he or she is handing in his or her own work, not plagiarizing, appropriately citing, and most importantly recognizing the law. Grades 9-12: It is extremely important for these grade levels to know, understand, and apply the copyright laws. At this age level, the students are beginning to hand in more lengthy and detailed assignments and preparing themselves for college. Since the students in these grade levels are more mature, it is appropriate that they completely understand the copyright laws and their consequences. Plagiarism consequences should immediately be displayed in the syllabus or introduction to any class that they are taking. If we make it easy for the students to follow the laws they will. It is when it becomes more of an effort or difficult that we have students giving in to temptation and should worry. That being said, there are ways we can make things easier for them. For example, we could provide a sheet of paper that lists the ways to cite every kind of source. This makes it fast and easy for a student to cite his or her source. We can also outline the process of seeking permission from an owner to use their work, regularly review the process, and make the consequences clear.