COPYRIGHT
"You find an outstanding World Wide
Web site on the Internet and want your web page to contain some of the glittering
wonderfulness of this site. You can down load and use what part of the web
page without infringing on copyright"
Concerning the use of information, when in doubt always
ask permission from the author. The implications of not asking could
be regrettable and costly. In this particular instance, the work that
you are so amazed by may actually not be the author's work. He/She could
have easily copied the information from another site and failed to give that
author any credit and adopted the ideas as his own. However, mere
crediting and quoting does not protect you from infringement of copyright
laws. Once a piece of work is written or recorded, then and only then, is
that work protected by copyright laws. The Internet is not a public
domain and therefore information found on the internet is automatically copyrighted
once it is created. Contacting the author, webmaster or publisher is
the best means of not violationg copyright laws. When in doubt ask permission.
"Mr. Hamer is tutoring for the functional
writing test out of a copyrighted series of work books from Houghtin Mifflin.
He has 27 students but only 20 books were purchased for his class. The same
material is available at the HM web page. He prints enough pages for his kids
each morning for today's class."
Copyright law states that a single chapter may be copied
without violation, providing that the information is sited. However,
multiple copies may not be distributed unless it is an emergency and imminent.
In that case, additional texts must be ordered or on order.
"Mr. Jamweimer, the parent of one
of our most intellectual students, has paid to download a wonderful computer
software program for his little Einstein. Mr. Jamweimer wants "our school"
to be the best and sends a copy of the download file to be used by the students
on the computers at school. P.S. all of the kids use it and win Nobel prizes
in science, literature, physics, chemistry, and playground.
"
The end result of this scenario does not justify the
means. Copyright infringement is still illegal. The software
was copyrighted the moment it was created. Software should be viewed
in a similar manner as text or periodicals, when attempting to decide if
copyright laws have been broken. Mr. Jamweimer does not own the software,
he simply licenses it from the company. His actions of downloading
it and distributing to the school, teachers and students is simply defined
as stealing and unfair usage. The terms of agreement that a licenser
chooses to agree or disagree with at time of installment, specifically states
that all materials will not be copied or distributed to others. The
intention of the parent is well meant but it is a blatant violation of a
contractual agreement.
To discover more concerning Copyright Laws and Infringements please
look at these sites:
Education
World: The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
Benedict O'Mahoney's Copyright
Website
U.S.
Copyright Office
