Rules for use of Copyright, Fair Use, Creative Commons, and Public Domain works in the K-12 classroom.

1. Copyright, Fair Use,
Creative Commons, and
Public Domain
What’s Legal, What’s Not, and How to Tell Which is
Which.
Melissa DiSpaltro

2. So what’s with all these different
licenses, anyway?
There are really only two types of license for intellectual
property: copyright and Creative Commons. Copyright is the
basic one: it says, in essence, if you created it, it’s yours by
law, and nobody can use it without your permission. This is
true whether you pay for a copyright license or not. The
minute I started typing this slide, these words and ideas were
copyrighted. However, it’s extremely difficult to defend your
copyright in court without some kind of legal date stamp
showing when you made it.
Creative Commons works with copyright. It’s essentially
blanket permission: you can choose who can use your work
and how they can use it, and give permission for anyone
meeting those criteria to do so without having to contact you

3. What is copyright?
From the Frequently Asked Questions page on
www.copyright.gov:
“Copyright, a form of intellectual property law,
protects original works of authorship including
literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such
as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer
software, and architecture. Copyright does not
protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of
operation, although it may protect the way these
things are expressed.”
So, for example, the demographic data about a state
cannot be copyrighted, but the specific wording,
formatting, etc. that an author uses to communicate

4. Basics of copyright
• Nobody can use your work for anything without your permission (with
a few exceptions under Fair Use).
• Any references to your work must be cited correctly; otherwise, the
person is saying the work belongs to them. Adaptations can fall under
copyright as well, if there aren’t sufficient differences between the
adaptation and the original work. However, citation does not prevent
you from being charged with copyright violation! It depends how the
work is used.
• Copyright is automatic upon creation of the material.
• To uphold copyright in a court of law, you need proof that you created
the work before the other person.
• Copyright can only be defended in a court of law, which makes it
expensive for both the defendant and plaintiff.
• School districts can be, and have been, sued for breach of copyright
in classrooms. This includes use of copyrighted images.

5. Four types of Creative Commons
Licenses
BY license: The only requirement to use this work
legally is to include correct attribution: “By Jim Doe.”
All CC-licensed work must contain attribution.
NC (Non-Commercial): Prohibits commercial use of
the work.
ND (No Derivatives): Prohibits the sharing of
adaptations of the material.
SA (Share Alike): Requires that adaptations of the
material be released under the same license.
These licenses are intended for use by anyone who
holds the copyright to the work, and are enforceable in
courts of law around the world. Anyone can apply for one,
for free. There’s a database of CC-licensed works in the
last slide of this presentation.

6. Fair Use
Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides for four factors which
can be considered “Fair Use” of copyrighted materials. These
include:
The purpose and character of the use of copyrighted work
Is the new work the same as the copyrighted work, or have
you transformed the original work, using it in a new and
different way?
Will you make money from the new work, or is it intended
for nonprofit, educational, or personal purposes?
Commercial uses can still be fair uses, but courts are more
likely to find fair use where the use is for noncommercial
purposes. This is where educational Fair Use comes in.

7. Fair Use (continued)
The nature of the copyrighted work
A particular use is more likely to be considered fair when the copied
work is factual rather than creative.
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to
the copyrighted work as a whole
How much of the copyrighted work did you use in the new work?
Copying nearly all of the original work, or copying its "heart," may
weigh against fair use. But "how much is too much" depends on the
purpose of the second use. Parodies, for example, may need to
make extensive use of an original work to get the point across.
The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work
This factor applies even if the original is given away for free. If you
use the copied work in a way that substitutes for the original in the
market, that will weigh against fair use. Uses of copyrighted material
that serve a different audience or purpose are more likely to be
considered fair.

8. So how does Fair Use work in
a school?
To be safe, limit your use of copyrighted material. Some
publications, like newspapers, have specific clauses for
use in classrooms; make use of them.
Keep your use of any one work small. Copying a class
set of an article for use solely in your classroom is one
thing; copying an article for distribution to parents or the
whole school is an entirely different thing. Be careful.
Remember that attribution does not mean you have not
violated copyright!
Images and logos are also copyrighted.

9. Public Domain
From teachingcopyright.org, works in the public domain are:
Works that automatically enter the public domain upon
creation, because they are not copyrightable:
Titles, names, short phrases and slogans, familiar
symbols, numbers
Ideas and facts (e.g., the date of the Gettysburg
Address)
Processes and systems
Government works and documents1
Works that have been assigned to the public domain by
their creators
Works that have entered the public domain because the
copyright on them has expired.

10. Public Domain
Expired works are defined as:
All works published in the U.S. before 1923
All works published with a copyright notice from 1923
through 1963 without copyright renewal
All works published without a copyright notice from 1923
through 1977
All works published without a copyright notice from 1978
through March 1, 1989, and without subsequent registration
within 5 years.
There is no legal protection for any work in the public domain.
It may be used by anyone for any reason.

11. So, to sum up:
Copyright law applies in classrooms as much as it does
anywhere else.
Fair Use has specific rules. Be aware and follow them.
Creative Commons also has specific rules, but they’re
looser than copyright and Fair Use. Be aware and follow
them.
Your only 100% sure “safe” works are original material,
purchased material with classroom permissions (this is
why we have to use videos from the district library!), or
works in the Public Domain.

12. For Your Information
Database of Creative-Commons-licensed works:
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Content_Directorie
s
Index of cases regarding Fair Use:
http://copyright.gov/fair-use/
Resources for teaching about copyright in the
classroom: http://www.teachingcopyright.org/resources