A Copyrighted Reflection

In this blog post - I will explore these questions:

What are some new things you learned about copyright that you hadn’t known before?

I learned that the law is somewhat lenient towards educators. I also learned about the timelines of copyright law. I did not know that in the U.S. copyrights last the lifetime of the creator and then an additional seventy years. Also, I was somewhat hazy in my understanding of public domain. I thought that only certain things became part of public domain, not everything! That is kind of cool to know that everything (after a certain timeframe) can be free to use. I guess the confusion comes with international material and the variety of laws from other countries

Do you believe that copyright laws are fair as they are currently written? What specifically do you believe to be fair/unfair?

I think copyright laws are not very fair due to the length of the copy write. I think the lifetime of the creator and a little time after that is plenty. Anyone who created something could reap plenty of benefits in their lifetime. I don’t think it’s fair that companies or even descendants of the creator are getting money from something that they had little or nothing to do with. I think maybe after about ten years, the works should count as “public domain”

Tell me what you must do to make sure whatever you are using in your classroom will fall under Fair Use protection.

When I hand out a worksheet for projects in my class, I will attach a little addendum about copyright laws. I will also direct students to government websites if they have any questions. If there is still confusion, then we work together to determine what would work in order to keep the student legal but also not greatly impact their planned use of media.

How will you enforce copyright within your own classroom with your students?

I will instruct and correct students if they violate copyright law but I don’t think I should level any sort of enforcement. I don’t think it is fair to dock points from students for not completely understanding a complex law that many adults still don’t comprehend. Maybe if there is a major, major violation – I might need do something like maybe a letter home to the parents explaining the situation and have the student redo the assignment.