This is a pecha-kucha presentation on copyright from an instructor's perspective. It's part of the requirements for an online course I am taking (VCC PIDP 3240). The references I used were:
Wikipedia entry: Copyright law of Canada (n.d.) Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Canada
Wikipedia entry: Copyright symbol (n.d.) Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_symbol
The 14 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits Filed by the RIAA and the MPAA (n.d.) Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://brainz.org/14-most-ridiculous-lawsuits-filed-riaa-and-mpaa/
Ward, Susan (n.d.) Copyright in Canada. Retrieved August 9, 2012 from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/insurancelegalissues/a/copyright1.htm
Lee, T.B. (July 16, 2012) Feds say US ties make Megaupload subject to criminal law. ars technica. Retrieved August 9, 2012 from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/feds-say-us-ties-make-megaupload-subject-to-criminal-law/
De Beer, J., and Bouchard, M., (2010, winter) Canada’s ‘Orphan Works’ Regime: Unlocatable copyright owners and the copyright board. Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 10 [2], p. 215-54.
AUCC and CMEC (April 15, 2005) Canada – US Copyright Comparison. Retrieved August 12, 2012 from http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/canadauscopyright.pdf
Copyright Basics – Fair Dealing (n.d.) Retrieved August 12, 2012, from http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/?guid=fairdealing
Kerr, P.B. (n.d.) Copyright Law in Canada. Retrieved August 12, 2012 from http://users.trytel.com/~pbkerr/copyright.html?iframe=true&width=80%&height=80%
BCIT (March 2007) Copyright Manual. Retrieved August 12, 2012 from http://www.bcit.ca/files/library/pdf/bcit-guideusecopymaterials.pdf
Hi, this pecha-kucha presentation is part of the requirements for an online VCC course PIDP 3240. In this format each slide will only appear for about 20 seconds with a total of 20 slides. The subject I will talk about is copyright as it applies in Canada from an instructor’s perspective.
Where do you start a presentation on copyright? I think you have to go with the ubiquitous copyright symbol shown here introduced in the US in 1909. it’s really just a reminder though since copyright can exist even when the symbol is not there. Copyright is usually automatically granted to the author of the work with some exceptions.
We’re probably most likely to know about copyright due to student plagiarism. One of my pet peeves is receiving reports from students that are essentially printouts of a Wikipedia page. A few years back record companies seemed to be suing everyone, even dead grandmothers (yes this did happen in 2005).
Some people think that copyright issues are new to us but they’ve been around as long as people recognized that you can make money off your work. I found this interesting article from the NY Times dated 1897. The article complained about how Canadians were mass producing and selling copyrighted music from the US essentially pirates.
The reality is that it’s not only pirates that infringe on copyright. Many of us may be violating copyright rules in our daily lives. Photocopying a book, showing a video in class, copying an image from the internet or even just playing music at an event you’ve organized may be breaking copyright laws even if there is no intent on our part to do s0.
So why do we do it? Sometimes it is simple ignorance but sometimes it can be deliberate. We wouldn’t take the neighbour’s car on the street just because it was there and we needed it yet many people violate copyright for the exact same reasons without too much thought or maybe they just don’t know what copyright is. So let’s talk about that to start
Copyright is essentially the right of an author to be recognized and compensated for their original work. Just like anything else, there are rules. As teachers, I think it is absolutely crucial that we know what those rules are and how they apply to us. Most importantly, I think we have to model appropriate behaviours around those rules.
And copyright rules tend to apply globally. So it doesn’t matter where the work was made or where its use is intended. Even if a work comes from the other side of the planet, in Canada we have to completely respect that copyright. Just look at how the US government recently went after Hong-Kong based Megaupload and its New Zealand founder.
When talking about copyright, it might be easiest to start with where it DOESN’T apply. Ideas, facts, names or slogans, methods of doing something (like using pecha-kucha) all of these do not have copyright protection. If the author of a work has passed on, the copyright usually ends 50 years after their deaths. That’s why works by Billy Shakespeare are copyright-free.
Even if you ARE the author of a work, you may not own the copyright. Common examples of this type of situation are if you’ve been hired to commission a painting or a work of art or to put together a PowerPoint presentation at work. Of course, as in all contractual situations, ownership of the copyright for the work can be negotiated.
So what are the rules when it comes to books? Sure there are a lot of them in the library, doesn’t that mean we can use them at will? Yes and no. Most books are covered and can’t simply be used. What about the material that your institute owns the copyright to? Well usually as long as you are with the institute you can use that material (just like they can use whatever you produce for them in other courses).
For others, we can use parts of them just not too much. We can copy up to one chapter of a book (not exceeding 20% of the entirety) and so forth. The essential thing is, in my opinion, that when in doubt, ask for permission. And we certainly have to acknowledge the reference when we do use them but Copyright rules are a lot more grey than most people are comfortable with.
Most educational institutes are part of a national copyright clearance center called Access. This is essentially a central copyright licensing agency that allows people to get copyright permission while ensuring that the owners receive proper compensation. This used to be CANCOPY. This allows instructors to get all the copyright permission from one source (with some exceptions).
Here at BCIT, we have a 20 page document detailing how to work within copyright in preparation of course notes and so forth. Under Access, I can make copies without keeping track if I make only enough copies to provide one copy for each student, and 0nly use a small portionHowever If I am charging for the reproductions then royalties must be paid.
In preparing course packs for sale to students, no more than 50 percent of the pages in a course pack can be taken from textbooks> And any extract from a textbook must be five percent or less of the textbook, or one chapter> No more than two extracts can be taken from textbooks from the same author andpublisher within any period of five years
What about music? That’s probably the one that most people think of when it comes to copyright. Those lawsuits over the last few years put a lot of attention on the issue of copyright. Recent supreme court rulings have created tariffs for people like rec centers who play music in public. Those DVD’s you buy at Costco? You can have friends over to watch them but you can’t show them in class. They need special licensing.
Probably the area were copyright is infringed upon the most is the internet. Work on the internet seems to be so readily available that many people think it is free to use how you wish. That is patently false. Works on the internet are also bound by copyright and most large web pages have terms of use clearly indicated. These tell you how and under which conditions you can use the work.
What about when you find something that you would like to use but you simply can’t figure out who owns the copyright. These are referred to as “orphan” works. There is a legal requirement that you try to find the copyright owner. Once you’ve done everything reasonable (and that is another grey area) then you can apply to use the work. You will pay a royalty and the owner of the work has 5 years in which to claim that royalty otherwise it goes into a general fund.
Fair dealing is a clause that allows limited and non-commercial royalty-free copying for the purposes of research or private study, criticism, review, and news reporting. It all depends though on how much you are using and what you are using it for. FAIR DEALING in Canada is a little more stringent than the similarFAIR USE in the USA.
So that is the end of the presentation. The images that have been used in this presentation all came from a legally purchased version of PowerPoint using the Office.com website. As such, the authors of these images, while still keeping copyright, have allowed users such as myself to use them without having to ask permission or pay royalties. Thanks for participating I hope that you found it helpful.