Copyright+&+Fair+Use+&+Legal+Compliance+(Individual+Awareness)

The Copyright Society of the U.S.A.,. "copyright basics & faqs." //copyright kids//. download recordings, inc, 2007. Web. 9 Apr 2012. .

** What Is Copyright? ** Did you know that whenever you write a poem or story or even a paper for your class, or a drawing or other artwork, you automatically own the copyright to it. Copyright is a form of protection given to the authors or creators of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works. What that means is that, as the author of the work, you alone have the right to do any of the following or to let others do any of the following:

- make copies of your work; - distribute copies of your work; - perform your work publicly (such as for plays, film, dances or music); - display your work publicly (such as for artwork, or stills from audiovisual works, or any material used on the Internet or television); and - make “derivative works” (including making modifications, adaptations or other new uses of a work, or translating the work to another media).

__ Fair Use __ The exclusive rights of the copyright owner are not unlimited. The copyright law establishes some limitations on these rights. One of the most important limitations on the exclusive rights is the doctrine of "Fair Use." The "Fair Use" doctrine allows limited copying of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The copyright law provides that reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright. The law lists the following factors, which courts must consider together in determining whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a permitted "Fair Use," or is instead an infringement of the copyright:


 * the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: the noncommercial educational use is more likely to be a fair use;
 * the nature of the copyrighted work: the more factual and less creative the work, the more likely it will be fair use;
 * the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: the more taken the less likely to be fair use; and
 * the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: in other words, is the use taking away from the copyright owner money that the she might have been making from the work.


 * Notes - **


 * Copyright allows you to have he say that it's yours. It's illegal for others to take your work (like making copies) unless you give permission.
 * You can make a copy of something without permission as long as it says in the classroom. Ex., if Mr. Moss wants to show the class a Mickey Mouse picture to the class, well he can as long as it stays in the classroom.
 * Fair use is the use of educational and researching purposes only.
 * There are "copyright notices" which have the little symbol as well as the date and the owner.

Joesph, L. C.. "cyberbee.com." //Copyright//. N.p., 1996. Web. 9 Apr 2012. .


 * Just because there's not a symbol on the page, doesn't mean it's not copyrighted. Everything is copyrighted.
 * Everyone's able to use things for music and such.
 * Fair use is being able to listen to music and stuff and doesn't violate the Bill of Rights.

Wright, V.. //The history of copyright//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr 2012. .


 * George Washington created the first Copyright law.

Copyright had started every since George Washington had introduced it. They had created copyright so all of your creations were protected. That's basically what copyright is. It allows people to NOT steal your work. It's illegal if you were to take someone's work. For example, if you were writing an easy and you found a really great website! You decided to take a short paragraph from that website. So, you copy and paste. Except, you don't know that stealing their work is againist the law. Not only is it plagiarism, but you have violated the law of copyright. Honestly, how would you feel if you took the time to write this amazing wedpage about dogs or something. Then, someone stole your work. Yes, it wouldn't feel so great. That's why we need to cite our sources. To cite our sources, you're giving some credit to the original author. Whenever you take a sentence or so, make sure to use quotation, the date published, where it was published, etc. In other cases, sometimes you actually can "take" people's work without citing it. This is called fair use. Fair use is used only for educational purposes. Or, as long as whatever you're taking stays in the classroom -- you're good. You may not see the little copyright symbol, but everything is copyrights. So, always be aware whether or not you're citing your sources.
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