Copyright the Card Game was developed in 2015 by UK Copyright Literacy to teach librarians, faculty, and educators about copyright law through a 3 hour workshop using a deck of cards. In 2016, US librarians worked with UK Copyright Literacy to adapt the game for US copyright law using online collaboration tools. The adapted game has been piloted at several universities and received positive feedback. The game breaks down copyright concepts into suits modeled on the UK version and is designed to be customizable for different sessions and audiences.

1. Copyright the Card Game was developed in 2015 by Jane Secker
and Chris Morrison of UK Copyright Literacy. It was designed as a
3 hour workshop to teach librarians, faculty, and other education
professionals about copyright law as it applies to their work.
In 2016, A few US librarians expressed interest in adapting the
game for US law. Working together with UK Copyright Literacy,
we used Slack and Google Sheets to collaborate on finding align-
ments between US legal concepts and the structure of the UK
card deck.
This game has been piloted at
the University of Pittsburgh, a
WPWVC-ACRL meeting, and at
SUNY Broome Community Col-
lege. We have found a great deal
of faculty interest in the topic
and have had a great deal of pos-
itive feedback on the game.
We have reached out to copy-
right librarians for feedback
and made revisions based on
their advice. We contacted a
school librarians' listserv to
share the game and ask for
some copyright scenarios rele-
vant to the K-12 experience so
that we might expand the
games' usefulness
Copyright Literacy 2017 t-shirt design by Ross J.K. Art

2. The cards break down copyright
concepts into suits, closely
modeled on the UK version.
Works: the types of works
covered under copyright
Rights: the rights protected by
copyright
Fair Use & Exceptions: the
limitations and exemptions for
copyright
Licenses: allow people to make
use of copyrighted works
Risk: as part of the game,
players are asked to come up
with an estimate of risk for
each copyright scenario
We are considering adding a suit
for the TEACH Act.
We used the cards as a way to
promote and demonstrate
Creative Commons. The icons
used in the card designs come
from The Noun Project and are
CC-licensed. The cards are CC-
licensed as well

3. The UK version of the game was
designed as a three hour
workshop. We redesigned it for
a 50 minute session, with
flexibility built in for longer
sessions. We used the Monkey
Selfie story as an ice breaker,
and on promotional materials.
At the beginning of our
presentation we ask the
audience for their copyright
questions and concerns, and
then address them at relevant
points throughout the
presentation. The presentation
consists of a brief overview of
copyright concepts, which
corresponds to the cards in the
deck. We then discuss
hypothetical copyright
scenarios. We work through
one scenario as a group,
deciding which cards a relevant
to the situation, and giving it a
risk factor. Then participants
work in groups to evaluate other
scenarios. We finish up by
having each group share their
decisions, which we discuss with
the audience as a whole.
The game is designed to be
customizable, so it could be
expanded to go into more
depth if time permits. In our
presentation, we removed the
Exceptions cards and made Fair
Use our area of focus. If we
wanted to make the game more
competitive, we could use a
point system and give credit for
being the first to answer, or
coming closest to the ideal
answer, or groups could vote
explanation up or down.
http://bit.ly/copyrightcards