Law+and+Policy


 * Please note:** the following is provided for your information and is not legal advice.

Greater educational access to the internet, utilization of Web 2.0 tools to create “[|remixes]” and “[|mashups],” increased emphasis on student creativity, and the ability to publish for a global audience have stimulated concern over copyright issues. A list of universally accepted standards concerning the fair use of copyrighted material in educational settings does not exist. So, what should a teacher know?

Fair Use – Now an informed, practical guideline for educators!
The **//Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education//** was released November 11, 2008. This is a landmark guideline for interpreting fair use in the classroom. For an overview, watch the following video.

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The entire report can be viewed here:

The following video was made by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University to explain fair use. It's humorous and pokes some fun at Disney - for a reason. Also, pay careful attention to the "FBI Warning."

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**Fair Use** - The Basics
Fair use guidelines are part of the [|U.S. Copyright Act] (P.L. 94-553)

[|Section 107] of the law describes a four part test that determines is the use of copyrighted material is fair use: 1. The purpose and character of the use (commercial or educational) 2. The nature of the copyrighted work (fictional or factual; degree of creativity) 3. The amount of the work used 4. The effect of the use on the marketplace (financial loss of the copyright holder)

That’s it. There is no legal, definitive list of what constitutes fair use. There are numerous charts suggesting a quantified list of how much of an item can be used fairly, but the only true test of whether the use of a copyrighted work constitutes fair use is the court system.

Additionally, [|Section 110] identifies specific uses of copyrighted materials that are not copyright infringements. The first one provides significant latitude for classroom use of copyrighted works by stating the following is not copyright infringement:

“(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made”

Lower Dauphin School District Board Policy No. 814, [|Copyright Material.pdf], addresses “fair use” doctrine. The guide for this policy is P.L. 94-533.

All of the above address classroom use of copyrighted materials.

OK, but what about internet use?
Lower Dauphin School District Board Policy No. 444,[|Acceptable Use of Computers, Internet/Network] states, “Any data uploaded to or downloaded from network facilities shall be subject to fair use guidelines. The illegal use of copyrighted software by network users is prohibited” (p. 6). The guides for this statement are P.L. 94-553 and Policy 814.