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Amy Durand

ETEC 424

Professor Wolfe

22 September 2018

The Impact of Copyright and Fair Use on Education

The very first copyright law was enacted in England in 1710 under the name “Statute of

Anne” and was the first such law to protect the work of an author. Since this time, other

countries have adopted copyright laws. The United States first enacted the Copyright Act in

1790. This Act has been revised over time to maintain currency with new mediums for written

and artistic expression with the most current being Title 17 of the United States Code which

includes all amendments enacted by Congress through June 30, 2016. (U.S. Copyright Office,

n.d.) Although the rules and definitions of copyright are quite lengthy in nature, it is basically the

legal right one has over their creative work. (Robinson, 2014) Copyrights are typically thought

to last 70 years, however, there are many factors taken into account to include “whether [the

work] has been published, and if so, the date of first publication.” Additionally, for works

created after 1 January 1978, “copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an

additional seventy years.” (U.S. Copyright Office, n.d.) If the author is anonymous the rules are

different. Although it is not truly important for a teacher nor student to know the expiration of a

copyright, it is important to always credit a source, especially when it is copyrighted. To violate

copyright rules (i.e., be found guilty of copyright infringement) you would be ordered to pay
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damages and/or serve jail time. The amount would be dependent on whether or not your

violation was considered a civil or criminal violation. (Magloff, n.d.)

The exception to this is called Fair Use. “Fair use is a legal concept that allows the

reproduction of copyrighted material for certain purposes without obtaining permission and

without paying a fee or royalty. Purposes permitting the application of fair use generally include

review, news reporting, teaching, or scholarly research.” (Rouse, 2005) There are four factors

that judges, and all teachers should, use to determine if Fair Use is properly utilized:

 the purpose and character of your use.

 the nature of the copyrighted work.

 the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and.

 the effect of the use upon the potential market. (Standford Univeristy, n.d.)

In essence, Fair Use is a rule that permits students to use a part of copyrighted material for

educational purposes. (Robinson, 2014) This rule is very fortunate for teachers! It allows us

to use copyrighted material without the copyright holder’s permission, it also eliminates

paying fees to the copyright holder. But only if the copyrighted material is being used for the

purpose of teaching or research. (There are other fair use exceptions such as criticism,

parody, etc. but this is beyond the scope of this paper.) As a teacher I have been very

fortunate to have found and purchased books which allow me to print a copy for my students

for use in the classroom. Note the “my.” I am not permitted to share with other teachers

depending on the book. Or, in one instance, I have an electronic subscription to Spanish

Readers but my license is only to produce copies under the Fair Use rules for my students in

the classroom. There are other limitations to the Fair Use rule. For example, a teacher cannot

necessarily copy an entire book, but may be limited to copying only a portion of it.
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Distribution is limited, as noted above in my examples. Students have more stringent rules.

Whenever in doubt, it is best to inquire. And, always, even when Fair Use is in play, give

credit where credit is due.

Works Cited

Magloff, L. (n.d.). What Happens If You Break Copyright Laws? Retrieved from legalzoom:

https://info.legalzoom.com/happens-break-copyright-laws-20309.html

Robinson, K. (2014, January 10). Copyright and Fairuse. Retrieved from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miADtFEuoHQ&feature=youtu.be

Rouse, M. (2005, September). Fair Use. Retrieved from WhatIs.com:

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/fair-use

Standford Univeristy. (n.d.). Copyright and Fair Use (Measuring KFair Use: The Four Factors).

Retrieved from Stanford Univeristy Libraries: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-

use/four-factors/

U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Copyright Law of the United States. Retrieved from

Copyright.gov: https://www.copyright.gov/title17/

U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). How Long Does Coypright Protection Last. Retrieved from

Coypright.gov: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html
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RESPONSES TO POSTS:

Adaeze, Thank you for the information regarding the Fair Dealing Decision Tool. In my
research I did not come across it, but think it could be very helpful to me in the future. I
appreciate also the history you provided. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm not a
theater person and to see how it works was very interesting. Amy

Aaron, great breakdown on Fair Use. Very helpful. It is sad that teachers are not sharing the
specifics of this information with their students, at least not in my school district. I find it
very disconcerting to have 11th and 12th graders in my class that have never learned about
fair use and can barely cite their work. Amy

Cameron, I love love love that you included information about Public Domain works! I
thought about it, but when I started writing it went right out of my head. The information you
provided is extremely useful, and I'm a bit jealous that you included it and I forgot! Great
job. Amy