“Fair Use” guidelines provide that students (and teachers) may use copyrighted material in multimedia presentations and electronic portfolios without permission if the following quantity limits are observed, as long as their work remains within the classroom setting.
Illustrations, cartoons & photos |
No more than 5 images from a single artist or photographer; no more than 10% of a single work |
Music, lyrics &
music video |
Up to 10% but not more than 30 seconds from a single work or several extracts from one work |
Film, video &
television |
Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, from an individual program |
Text
(prose, poetry, drama) |
Up to 10% or 1000 words of text, whichever is less, of a novel, story, play, or long poem. Poems of less than 250 words may be used in their entirety. Only 3 poems by one poet or 5 poems from different authors in an anthology. |
Database or data table |
Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries |
Once student work leaves the classroom setting (i.e., in the display of a student multimedia production which contains some copyrighted work at an open house, or including the student work on a web site), the student work may fall in the category of “public performance” or “publishing.” According to copyright law, permission from the copyright holder is then required.
Assume that all art, photos, and text are copyrighted (unless there is a clear statement that they are in the “public domain” and available for free use). Projects should NOT be published on a web site without permission from the copyright holder. If permission is received, it should be stated on a credit line near the item and consent filed for verfication if needed.
A link to a URL is not copyrightable. Copying an entire list of links from a web site may be prohibited by copyright law; however, if some original thought has gone into organizing a list of links, it may fall under Fair Use guidelines. If linking to other pages, it is always a good idea to check the sites "linking" guidelines/policies or ask for permission to link to their pages/information.
Logos and many graphics are trademarked. There is no “fair use” exception for these, so permission must be obtained before they may be used in electronic publishing.
Permission Requirements
Educators and students must seek individual permissions (licenses) for all copyrighted works incorporated in their educational multimedia projects for:
a. Non-educational or commercial purposes.
b. Use beyond the limitations of time, portion, copying and distribution.
c. Distribution over an electronic network other than the remote instruction uses outlined above.
Downloading Material from the Internet
Internet resources often combine both copyrighted and public domain sites; therefore care should be used in downloading any sites for use in multimedia presentations.
Access to works on the Internet does not automatically mean that these can be reproduced and reused without permission or royalty payment
Many websites contain material posted without authorization from the copyright holder.
Attribution and Acknowledgment
Credit sources, giving full bibliographic information when available (including author, title, publisher, and place and date of publication).
Display the copyright information if shown in the original source information (including copyright notice ©, year of first publication and name of the copyright holder).
Copyright information for images may be combined and shown in a separate bibliographic section except for remote instruction, then credit and copyright information of images must appear on the screen when the image is viewed.
If displaying credit and copyright information would conflict with instructional objectives (e.g., would provide answers to examination questions), the information may be linked to the image in a manner compatible with the instructional objectives.
A notice that "certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the educational multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further use" must be included on the opening screen of the multimedia project and any accompanying print material.
Cameron Schools Fair Use Disclaimer for Projects .
Notice of Use
The following notice must be included on the opening screen of the multimedia project and any accompanying print material:
"Certain materials are included under the Fair Use exemption
of the
U.S. Copyright Law
and have been prepared according
to
the Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines and
are restricted from further use."
Taken directly from: COPYRIGHT GUIDELINES FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF CAMERON. Cameron: School District of Cameron, 2005.
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Warning! Warning!
Use caution when using items from the internet.
Downloading Material from the Internet:
Internet resources often combine both copyrighted and public domain sites; therefore care should be used in downloading from any sites for use in multimedia presentations.
-
Access to works on the Internet does not automatically mean that these can be reproduced and reused without permission or royalty payment.
-
Many websites contain material posted without authorization from the copyright holder.