Copyright Guidelines For Millard Public Schools - Available Through MPS Intranet

A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright

Teachers have a moral obligation to practice integrity and trustworthiness. Just as they expect students to refrain from cheating on tests and from taking others' belongings at school, teachers should honor the law when it comes to fair use and copyright. Thus, teachers not only should protect themselves from legal liability but should also model honesty and truthfulness by knowing when and what may be copied for educational use.
Copyright for Kids

Copyright law is explained in easy-to-understand language to aid understanding of this complicated concept.

PBS and Copyright

PBS strives to be education friendly – the majority of PBS programs have extended recording rights of one year or more for pre-K-12 schools. Some PBS programs even have their rights granted for the life of the recording (in perpetuity). If you have a question regarding a specific program, please see the program’s web page or call your local PBS station for assistance.

University of Richmond School of Law - Intellectual Property Institute Video

Digital 'sharing' is discussed vs. the problem of musicians losing control of their product and intellectual property - particularly as it applies to music.

A Fair(y) Use Tale

Snippets of Disney videos are used to explain Copyright law. Very amusing - but with an excellent script. Worth watching more than once. - You Tube Video

Fair Use and Copyright Quiz

1. A teacher has a subscription to Netflix. She tells her students that if they have no behavior problems when she has a sub, she will let them have a "movie afternoon" as a reward. The students will be allowed to pick a movie of their choice - but of course a movie with only a G, PG, or PG-13 rating.

False. "Entertainment" and "reward" are explicitly excluded under copyright guidelines. To show a movie for entertainment purposes, you must obtain a version from an authorized distributor who can license you to show it. But - it is true that teachers cannot show R rated movies in the classroom in MPS.

2. The school PTO group shows a school library owned copy of Charlotte's Web to the children of members in a classroom while the officers have a meeting in the library. The copy is legally acquired, the performance takes place in the classroom, nad a teacher or pupil presents the performance. This is fair use.

False. This is considered an entertainment or reward since the performance is not part of face-to-face teaching activities.

3. A history teacher taped the original CNN news report using embedded reporters showing the invasion of Iraq. She made it at home on her personal DVD recorder. She uses the entire news program every year in her classroom. This is fair use.

False. Congress holds that videotapes of publicly broadcast shows can only be shown for 10 days afterwards unless the copyright holder grants greater allowances for educators. The time has long passed when she should have asked permission or purchased the tape.

4. A teacher rents Gone With the Wind to show the burning of Atlanta scene to her class while studying the Civil War. This is fair use.

True. The video is a legal copy being used for instructional purposes.

5. Copyrighted material used in multimedia projects may remain in the student’s portfolio forever.

True. As long as the material is not publicly distributed, the student may archive his/her work.

6. A student building a multimedia art project uses copyrighted images of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings downloaded from the Web. He submits this project to a multimedia competition honoring classroom work and wins a prize for the school. This is covered under fair use.

True. The competition was expressly designed for classroom work by students. If the resulting projects were distributed on CD-ROM or posted at a web site, however, the copyrighted works could cause a problem.

7. The teacher of the winning multimedia project mentioned above shows it at an art conference for education. It costs $50 to attend the conference and the teacher is awarded free attendance because he is a presenter. This is fair use.

True. Fair use is generally extended to include educator trainings and conferences.

8. A district technology specialist downloads and caches educational and non educational Web pages for school Internet training. By copying these pages onto the school’s server she is violating copyright law.
False. Since it's serving an instructional purpose, the trainer should be all right. Because it is impossible to view a web page without first downloading it into computer memory, merely caching the page for future use should not be interpreted as illegal copying.

9. The Office has a vignette on personal hygiene that a health teacher tapes and uses the following week in class. The local television station denies permission when asked and states this is a violation of copyright law. They are correct.

False. The television station is wrong. First of all, it doesn't hold the copyright on "The Office." Secondly, the use occurred within 10 school days after the broadcast.

10. A high school class produces a student video yearbook that they sell at a community events to raise money for equipment for the school. They use well-known popular music clips. The money all goes to the school and the songs are fully listed in the credits. This is covered under fair use.

False. This is not instructional use. The fact that money is being charged is irrelevant; the problem lies in the use of copyrighted materials for non-instructional purposes.

11. An elementary school transcribes the lyrics from the album "Cats" and puts it on as the school mini musical. A teacher plays the music by ear on the piano and the students perform every song. There is no admission charged. This is legal.

False. The copyright holder sells the performance rights to schools in a very specific way. If you want "Cats," buy the performance rights. Sell tickets if you have to.

12. A teacher wants to make nine copies from a chapter of a book to use as a supplement to the textbook. He plans to use these copies for several years, but is covered by fair use because he will give copyright attribution and he will make the students check out the copies on an individual basis.

False. Teachers cannot make copies as a substitute for the purchase of books or periodicals. Since the teacher plans to use the materials for several years, the book needs to be purchased. It makes no difference whether students 'check out' the copies or not.

13. You make an i-movie to class to demonstrate Fair Use of copyrighted material to your students. The ,product uses less than 10% of 3 minutes of motion media; less than 10% or 1000 words of a text; less than 10% of or 30 seconds of music; and no more than 5 pictures by one artist. This is acceptable.

True. And you will be legal on the performance as long as you keep the work only for two years and make only two copies, including the original.

14. A great educational resource is so worn that it needs to be replaced, but it is out of print. After making every attempt to find a current owner of the material, you copy the material. At this juncture you copy the material - and it is legal to do so.

True. But you need to make every effort to contact publishers, authors, and search online.

15. The Librarian at your school tapes Meet the Press every week in anticipation that a teacher might want the tape. He/she only keeps the videoed material for 45 days after the broadcast. This is legal.

False. A Librarian can only video tape shows that are specifically requested by teachers.

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