Copyright, Fair Use & Creative Commons

 

Image source: Wikimedia Commons (this image is in the public domain)

These RWLDs introduce you to fundamental principles of U.S. copyright law, fair use, public domain, and Creative Commons. Understanding these concepts is key to making legal/ethical decisions about incorporating media into your educational projects (and guiding your students to do so in the future).

List of Terms and Concepts You Should Know:

• Copyright (What is it, and when is it obtained by a creator?)
• Fair Use (when it can be used?)
• Public Domain (explained in a YouTube video)
• Creative Commons (How do you obtain a CC license?)
• Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case, who illegally downloaded 24 songs. Read the follow-up to the story of Capitol v. Thomas on Wikipedia.

Resources

If you are a reader, familiarize yourself with pages 1—6 of Copyright Basics (PDF) from the US Copyright Office (copyright.gov). This introduction to copyright law outlines the types of works protected and defines ownership, as well as the typical duration of copyright protection.

If you would rather watch videos to learn, review the 3 videos below:

Using Copyrighted Works in Our Own Creations: Fair Use, Creative Commons, and Permissions

Copyright History

Creative Commons

This 5-minute video explains why Creative Commons was created:

Creative Commons licenses make it easy for people to share their works, which are otherwise protected by copyright law. This provides terrific opportunities for teachers and students! It's what you might say is a happy middle ground between All Rights Reserved and the public domain.

Food for thought:

You probably heard about ChatGPT and the concerns it raises among schools. We are witnessing the rapid development of chatbots and artificial intelligence that can imitate human conversation and generate essays, poems, and even art.

I asked ChatGPT two questions:

Q1: What do you think about students using ChatGPT to complete their assigned essays?

Here are the chat-generated answers:

Q2: Is ChatGPT in violation of copyright laws?

Answer:

What are your thoughts on using chatbots to complete your homework?

Other Resources (As FYI, not required)

To listen:

• NPR interview with an artist, Kelly McKernan, who filed the lawsuit after discovering that her artwork was used via an AI art generator to produce more work in her style.

To read: 

• Grappling With AI Writing Technologies in the Classroom - article but a high school social studies teacher https://www.edutopia.org/article/chatgpt-ai-writing-platforms-classroom
• Bookmark and explore these UNI sites related to copyright: UNI Copyright Policies and Rod Library Guide to Copyright.

To bookmark for later: 

• How to cite ChatGPT
• Copyrights and AI

To watch: 

Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use from Common Sense Education

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