Elisa Gopin
502 - Internet for Educators
Boise State University

Learner Description:

The rules on this page were written for a class of teenagers in a web development course.

Why is copyright important?

Copy/Paste has revolutionized the way we work. Any digital content can easily be copied from one source into another. This makes it easier to reproduce and transport something you've created and to share it with your friends. It also makes it easier for other people to steal something without your knowledge and raises questions about situations where someone may use content without even realizing they need to obtain permission.

So if you are creating a web page with photography tips for your readers and you happen to see a perfect example of what you've just written - can you include someone else's photo on your page? What if you link back to the site where you found the photo and make sure to credit the original photographer? Should you just provide a link to the site with a description of the photo, and not include the photo itself? There are situations where any one of these solutions is appropriate and it's helpful to understand when each one is called for.

When can you re-use digital content?

There are rules that allow partial, fair use of copyrighted material. These rules can allow a user to excerpt from a copyrighted work, provided it does not impact on the market value of the work or take advantage of the right to use the work. There are categories of creative works, though, that have fewer restrictions and allow greater freedom of use.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization to help artists clarify the conditions under which they release their work to the public. The licenses defined by the Creative Commons do not replace copyright protection; they merely give artists a way to maintain copyright while allowing certain restricted uses of their work. Creative Commons Licenses allows a full range of permissions so the artist can choose whether to maintain strict copyright or allow full use of a work they've created.

Public Domain Works

If a creative work is in the public domain it means there is no restriction on its use. You can incorporate it into any project, in any way, without permission. When does something enter the public domain? Usually after the copyright has expired. There are certain guidelines for determining whether a work is in the public domain, although final determination should be made by checking with the relevant country's patent or copyright office.

General guidelines for public domain works published in the US

  • A work published before 1923 is now in the public domain
  • A work published between 1923 and 1964 is in the public domain if the copyright has not been renewed by the copyright holder
  • Works published between 1964 and 1978 with a copyright notice were automatically renewed for a second term
  • A work created after 1978 is protected for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years
  • If a work was published before March 1, 1989 without a copyright notice then it is not protected
  • An artist can choose to release a work straight to the public domain, to make it freely available

Open Source Content

Open Source usually refers to a software license that determines how a software program can be used and redistributed, but this definition is being adapted for other types of content. Open source software differs from free software such as Skype in that not only is the program itself free to download and use, as well as redistribute to unlimited users, open source software also provides the source code freely. This means that anyone who wants can download the code, modify it, and release their own version of the software. Examples of popular open source projects include the Linux operating system, the Open Office Productivity Suite, and the Firefox web browser.

Copyright scavenger hunt

This scavenger hunt activity was designed to get you thinking about the different types of content that you can use freely when developing your own website. It's important to understand the various restrictions that remain in place even on freely available content so that you do not end up using it inappropriately and getting into trouble.

Instructions: This scavenger hunt was developed to help teenage students in a web development course learn how to discover great content for websites even without a budget to obtain rights to copyrighted works. There are three activity blocks in the hunt based on a specific webpage. Follow the links provided to answer the questions in each activity block. Each answer can be found on the page linked to above each block of questions.

Begin by downloading the scavenger hunt worksheet to record your answers.

Activity 1: Understanding Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons License Descriptions: http://creativecommons.org/about/license/

  • If you find a movie clip licensed with a by-nd Creative Commons License, can you edit it and include it in your own project?
  • Can you use the above mentioned work on a CD that will be sold to other students on campus?
  • What condition should you add to your license to make sure that derivations of your work will be released under the same license as your work?
  • Can a Creative Commons license be used to allow people to use your work for non-commercial means but restrict commercial uses (ie reselling it)?

Activity 2: Is It In The Public Domain?

Wikipedia – Public Domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain

True or False:

  • A work that is currently in the public domain in the US can be sold without restriction in Europe
  • A work published on February 3, 1993 without a copyright notice would be automatically placed in the public domain
  • Movies can never be released into the public domain because they are owned by the studios that released them
  • A lapsed trademark can leave the public domain and become proprietary again

Activity 3: Using Open Source Software

Wikipedia – Open Source Software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software

  • Is it OK to distribute an open source program for free and charge people to access the source code?
  • If you release software that you’ve developed as open source, you can still charge for installing or maintaining that software for clients?
  • How many versions, as a minimum, should an open source project release at a time?
  • What is the main difference between freeware such as the Opera web browser and free or open source software such as the Firefox Browser?

Check your answers when you are done and see how you did.

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