In this digital age, it is easy to infringe on someone else's copyright. As educators we must model respect for copyright. Probably the best advice we can give our students is to just ask the author of the material for permission to use it.
Some copyright facts:
- Copyright provides the creator of an original work the authority to determine who can make copies or derivatives of the original work.
- In order for something to be copyrighted, it must be in a tangible form. This includes electronic format. Ideas and thoughts cannot be copyrighted.
- Fair use allows one to use copyrighted material without the explicit permission of the author. Typically, one can use portions (as little as you need to) to comment on, research, or teach.
- A created work does not need a copyright notice for it to be protected by copyright law.
- If you give some copyrighted material away for free (such as music files), you violate copyright because you affect the commercial value of the property. The same would apply to software sharing. By giving away copies of media such as music or software, you compromise the owner's ability to reap the financial benefits of their creation.
- Email and newsgroup messages are copyrighted, even though there is no financial value in them like there would be for photographs, music files or software. The best advice is to seek the author's permission before forwarding, copying or posting elsewhere.
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