Copyright and You
What is copyright?
So, you’ve heard of copyright, right? Well, what exactly does this mean? I recently attended a presentation this past week with John Finch and he explains it as something that is has two sections; legal and moral. The legal right gives you the right to buy, sell, or destroy work as the creator, while the moral rights are the personal rights to the person who created it- so no matter what you do with your legal rights you will always be the person who created it.
There are many ways that we can be copyright criminals and not even know it! For instance, John showed an example of a young girl, Maria Aragon, playing piano while singing a Lady Gaga song. She could have been sued because she did not have permission by Lady Gaga to replicate her song. Lady Gaga chose not to sue her because, well, she was adorable. Maybe not the exact reason, but Lady Gaga did have the right to choose as she has legal rights of that song.
As teachers, we own what we personally create. This can include lesson plans, worksheets, drawings… the list goes on. This is the same for students. I had never really thought about the legal and moral rights of work that I or a student has created as well as where I can or cannot share that work. Since we own what we create, students can decline what work they want posted to social media or even on the exterior walls of the classroom. As teachers, we are not actually allowed to post their work on the exterior wall of the classroom without their permission… What? I had no idea! So make sure to get that consent before posting work that belongs to your students.
Fun Fact: In Canada, works that were created become public domain 50 years after the creator as died. Public domain are materials not protected by copyright. Anyone can use it, but no one can ever own it.
TED Talk: Margaret Stewart: how YouTube thinks about copyright
I found it interesting that when uploading a video it is tested to see if it is a match to an already uploaded video. The original user/creator can either allow it to be uploaded (maybe for exposure, music, ads) or disallow it. I like that it takes the onus off the uploader to worry about copyright violation, it is better because the studios can choose if its allowed.
Fair Dealings
This policy includes 6 conditions in which the rules and restrictions of copyrights are dealt with. They are:
- Purpose of the dealing
- Character of the dealing
- Amount of the dealing
- Alternatives to the dealing
- Nature of the work
- Effect of the dealing of the work
This can be of a short excerpt, for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review as well as the three new exceptions of satire, parody, education. Essentially, teachers can now make copies of work to give to their students. The copies can be in an electronic or paper form. This allows teachers to follow the guidelines and create copies of work without permission of the creator.
Digital Locks
Some more helpful information I learned about during this presentation was that you cannot play music in the classroom or the gym without a licence! Socan and Resound licences are needed in order to allow music to be played in the school. I really had no idea that playing Spotify in my classroom was a copyright infringement. This is the same for Netflix. You can watch it at home with family and friends, but because the school is considered a public place, you cannot watch it there. Additionally, when choosing a movie to rent and watch at school, make sure that it is related to the curriculum! You can only watch a movie in your classroom if it is for educational purposes only and for that specific class only. So if your teaching partner wants to have their class join you, make sure they think of how they can relate it to the curriculum otherwise it is deemed as for entertainment purposes… which sadly, is not allowed.
There you have it, a little more information on what copyright is and what it means for an educator!
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