Copyright Activity

An important part of copyright law, the “Fair Use Doctrine” is an essential part of a teacher’s classroom experience. This doctrine explains the guidelines for teachers to follow when “copying.” There is always the recommendation, “ask permission or one could familiarize themselves with the dos and don’ts of these guidelines. Here are a few examples of stories that apply to the guidelines……

The first example involves a teacher, Mrs. Hamer, who doesn’t have enough workbooks for her class. She copy’s the lesson everyday for the six students who do not have workbooks. This activity is not permissible according to the “Fair Use Doctrine.” According to the recommended guidelines “a teacher is not permitted to make multiple copies of works as a substitute for the purchase of books.” Therefore, Mrs. Hamer was violated these guidelines when she copied the workbooks for her class.

Another example of a case involving copyright is when a class was told that it was okay to download images from various websites and use these images in classroom presentations. The question is- what are the copyright implications?

It is unlikely that there would be any implications. First of all according to the guidelines, K-6 grades are exempt from adhering strictly to these laws for their academic purposes. We don’t know for sure what grade level this class was but according to the details in the example, these are not high school students. Also, the guidelines state that” one can use up to five photos or illustrations by one person and no more than 15 images or 10%, (whichever is less) from a single published work. These rules need to be explained to the students along with the issue of public domain.