5. What’s in the Public Domain?
Public Domain Protected
Published on or before December
31, 1922
For 95 years, published between January 1, 1923 and
December 31, 1978, inclusive, with the proper notice
Published between 1923 and December 31, 1963,
copyright not renewed
written after 1978. for the lifetime
of the author plus 70 years
Created before December 31, 1978 but never
published, for the life of the author plus 70 years
13. Resources
Center for Social Media. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2013, from
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use
Harper, G. K. (2007). Building on other's creative expression. Retrieved June 5, 2013,
from Copyright Crash Course website:
http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/useofweb.html
Harper, G. K. (2007). Building on other's creative expression. Retrieved June 5, 2013,
from Copyright Crash Course website:
http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/teachact.html
Harper, G. K. (2007). Building on other's creative expression. Retrieved June 5, 2013,
from Copyright Crash Course
website:http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html
Harper, G. K. (2007). Building on other's creative expression. Retrieved June 5, 2013,
from Copyright Crash Course
website:http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/permissn.html
Editor's Notes
Copying and distributing others’ copyrighted works can generate lawsuits. The fact that numerous lawsuits have been filed against individuals for file-sharing makes it apparent that individuals can be held accountable for violating copyright law (Harper, 2007). According to Harper (2007), “Universities and libraries can also be liable for the actions of their employees doing their jobs and possibly students who access the Internet through university machines” (Liability for Posting Infringing Works, para. 1). It’s therefore important that institutions monitor those that use their networks (Harper, 2007).
You can use anything in the public domain (Harper, 2007). Fair use statutes protect certain uses of materials (Harper, 2007). You can use anything with a creative commons license within certain guidelines (Harper, 2007). You can use anything you have permission to use (Harper, 2007). Most things you find on the web will have an implied license (Harper, 2007).
No. Once you write anything down, it’s copyrighted. Even if you display it on the internet (Harper, 2007). You no longer need a copyright mark or a publishing company for something to be copyrighted material (Harper, 2007).
“ Any works published on or before December 31, 1922 is now in the public domain” (Harper, 2007, First Steps, para. 4). Works published between 1923 and December 31, 1963, which the copyright owner did not renew (Harper, 2007) “ Works published between January 1, 1923 and December 31, 1978, inclusive are protected for a term of 95 years from the date of publication, with the proper notice” (Harper, 2007, First Steps, para.4). Works written after 1978 are protected for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years (Harper, 2007). “Finally, those works that were created before December 31, 1978 but were never published are now protected for the life of the author plus 70 years” (Harper, 2007, First Steps, para. 4).
According to the Center for Social Media (2013), “Fair use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it”(Fair Use, para.1). According to Harper (2007), determining if something is fair use boils down to two questions, “Is the use you want to make of another's work transformative -- that is, does it add value to and repurpose the work for a new audience -- and is the amount of material you want to use appropriate to achieve your transformative purpose?”(What is Fair Use, para. 1).
Transformative means, in a nut shell, you are using it for a new purpose. You are creating something that is your own based on someone else’s work. (Harper, 2007) Appropriate means that you use no more of someone else’s work than you need to. Don’t copy an entire chapter, when a paragraph will make your point easily. (Harper, 2007)
A Creative Commons license is an explicit license in which you are proactively granting other people the right to use your work in specific ways (Harper, 2007). To search for works protected with a Creative Commons license go to creativecommons.org.
According to Harper (2007), if the work you need to use is protected, you need to get permission from the copyright holder to use it. One of the easiest ways to get permission is to use Copyright Clearence Center ( http://www.copyright.com/content/cc3/en/toolbar/getPermission.html ) Make sure you protect yourself! According to Harper (2007), “Ideally, your permission should be in writing and should clearly describe the scope of what you are b eing permi tted to do” (Written Permission, para. 1)
When authors publish to the internet, the assumption is that other people are going to read and possibly use their work (Harper, 2008).This is the basis of an implied license. According to Harper (2007), “just by posting, an author impliedly grants a limited license to use her work in this manner”(The saving grace: implied and express licenses to use Internet materials, para 1). So as long as we give credit to the original source, it should be safe to use (Harper, 2007).
According to Harper (2007), “Facts, ideas, processes, methods, and systems described in copyrighted works ”(First Steps, para. 2) are not protected under copyright law.
According to Harper (2007), the TEACH act is “a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display (show) and perform (show or play) others' works in the classroom” (Introduction, para. 1) This allows us to use any curriculum related work in a face to face classroom setting no matter what medium it is (Harper, 2007). When it comes to a digital classroom, according to Harper (2007) “Under 110(2), however, even as revised and expanded, the same educator would have to pare down some of those materials to show them to distant students or make them available over the Internet to face-to-face students. The audiovisual works and dramatic musical works may only be shown as clips” (Introduction, para. 5)
