The document discusses copyright laws as they apply to public schools. It outlines what copyright is, how the 1976 revisions to copyright law affect teachers, and the conditions teachers must follow to legally copy and distribute copyrighted materials for classroom use, such as limiting copies to 250 words of a poem or 10% of a text. It also defines innocent, standard, and willful infringement and discusses who can be held liable for copyright violations in schools.

1. Copyright Laws
in the
Public School
W illiam Allan Kritsonis,
PhD

2. What is copyright?
 Copyright gives authors and publishers
the legal right to control the reproduction
of their work

3. The Law
 The Federal Copyright Law is expressed
in 17 USC §§101 ET. Seq. This law
provides a copyright the moment
something is put in tangible form.
 The copyright affixes to the work the
moment it is written on paper, saved on
disk, painted on canvas, recorded on
tape, or exposed to film.

4. 1976 Revisions to the
Law
and its effects on
teachers
 The 1976 revised copyright law does not
The 1976 revised copyright law does not
prohibit teachers from duplicating
copyrighted material for classroom use.
 Teachers may make a single copy for
scholarly use for class preparation.
 Teachers may make multiple copies for
classroom use.

5.  Teachers may copy a chapter from a
book, a newspaper, magazine, a short
story or a poem or chart, graph, diagram,
cartoon, picture, and the like if the
following conditions are met.

6. Conditions for
Teachers
 The copying is at the instance and
inspiration of the teacher.
 There is not sufficient time prior to use to
request permission from the publisher.
 The copying is only for one course in the
school.
 Each copy includes a notice of copyright
as it appears in the book or periodical.

7. Complying with Copyright
Guidelines
School Personnel May
Make multiple copies for classroom use of the
following:
250 words or less of a poem
Complete prose works if <2500 words
Excerpts of prose not exceeding 10%
One chart, graph, diagram from a book
Up to 2 pages or 10% of a text

8. Complying with Copyright
Guidelines
School personnel May
Not
 Copy consumables such as workbooks
or standardized test.
 Copy items for use from term to term
 Copy more than one poem, article, or
essay by the same author, nor more than
two excerpts from a collection.

9. Fair Use Clauses
 Fair Use, as defined in the law, has
certain aspects that apply to everyone
and others that apply only to certain
classes of use, such as in nonprofit
schools.
 Fair use is considered when copied
materials are intended for the promotion
of knowledge and scholarship.

10. Conditional Rights of Fair
Use
 The purpose and character of the use,
including whether such use is of a commercial
nature, or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
 The nature of the copyrighted work.
 The amount and substantiality of the portion
used in relation to the copyrighted work as a
whole.
 The effect of the use upon the potential market
for or value of the copyrighted work.

11. What is it called when violations
occur?
 Innocent infringement
 Standard Infringement
 Willful Infringement

12. Innocent Infringement
 Unknowingly breaking copyright law
 Example: A teacher reads in a journal
that an item has fallen into public domain
and makes copies. In truth, the journal
confused two items of similar titles.

13. Standard Infringement
 Disregard to portions of the copyright
 Example: A librarian makes copies of an
article for a class many months in
advance without making any attempt to
contact the copyright holder to obtain
permission.

14. Willful Infringement
 Direct intent to take advantage of
copyright owner
 Example: A principal asks permission to
reproduce copies of a journal article for
the faculty and is denied. He makes the
copies anyway without a reasonable
basis to believe he did not need
permission.

15. Liability in the Public
School
 Liability falls upon the individual who has
infringed the copyright.
 Technology Specialists and Librarians
are held liable if acts of copyright
infringements are known by them.
 Principals are liable if it occurs on their
campuses for they are the leaders of the
building.

16. Copyright Myths
 Ten big copyright myths are explained at:
www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html