Copyright and Digital Media Creation

Overview:

The existence of Copyright Law, with the protection it affords authors, artists, creators and their promoters, is not a new phenomenon. The first Copyright law was enacted in 1790. Since then several laws were enacted to further define and protect original works of art. The emergence of the World Wide Web and the most recent Web 2.0 social collaboration tools have brought copyright law, and infringements there of, to the awareness of the general public.

"The Internet has been characterized as the largest threat to copyright since its inception. The Internet is awash in information, a lot of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. Copyrighted works on the Net include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law. " ("The Copyright Web site" http://www.benedict.com/)

Public and private entities have exerted greater pressure in most recent years to protect their intellectual and/or financial interests by initiating lawsuits in an effort to discourage use of the materials, for which they hold the copyrights, without their express permission (and, in some cases, without royalty payment) in the new Web 2.0 environment. High-profile cases illustrate the lengths to which some business interests will go to ensure that their rights are upheld, and provide a glimpse of the financial impact of such litigation, i.e. J.E. Rowling, Disney, Sony.

Certain provisions in the US Copyright Law allow non-profit educational institutions to use copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder. The provisions, as outlined in the Fair-Use Guidelines and the TEACH Act, are very complicated and can be confusing to educators. There are no exemptions for educators and educational institutions that do not adhere to such provisions, regardless of whether they understand them or not and regardless of whether their students have the ability to pay for copyrighted resources or not (see Publishers Sue Georgia State U. for Copyright Infringement, http://chronicle.com/news/article/4319/publishers-sue-georgia-state-u-for-copyright-infringement).

As educational learning environments increasingly incorporate digitized and Internet elements, it is critical that educators and students, alike, are aware of and understand the copyright implications for their use. The potential financial impact of misuse is staggering with statutory damages ranging from $750 to $30,000 per work infringed, and up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement (US Code http://altlaw.org/v1/codes/us/587610), not to mention the accompanying attorney and court fees, negative publicity and the ensuing loss of reputation (and, in the case of higher education, potential loss of donations).

Background:

The new Digital Commons facilities provide easy access for faculty, students and staff to create digital media. With this access comes a responsibility for the University to educate users in the ethical and lawful use of resources that are employed in digital media creation. Current University policies regarding faculty and staff use of copyrighted materials are located in the General University Reference Utility and the University Policy Manual. A new website (http://copyright.psu.edu ) was launched this year to educate students regarding their educational and personal use of copyrighted materials. In addition, iStudy for Success learning modules are available for instructors to use in addition to their standard course content. They are designed to eliminate the need to devote valuable class time to address the basic issues of copyright and plagiarism.


Policy Recommendations:

1. The PS-LV Digital Commons Coordinator will work with the campus University Relations Department and the Director of Academic Affairs to create a hand-out of copyright use FAQs and “Where to find more information” that will accompany a short introduction on use of copyrighted materials for digital content creation. This introduction will be included with the 20-minute “Orientation to the Digital Commons” that is required for all who are interested in using the equipment in the studio.

Pros: The implementation of such an introduction will provide an additional educational opportunity for students, faculty and staff to be reminded of the University policies regarding copyright.

Con: Developing such an introduction and accompanying fact sheet will require personnel resources. An introduction that will be included in an established Orientation will provide a very limited opportunity for education of copyright issues.

2. The Director of Academic Affairs will address the use of copyrighted materials in teaching and learning and answer questions pertaining to implementation of University policies, in this regard, as part of one of the mandatory faculty and staff training sessions/meetings each year.

Pros: There is a vast number of University Policies. It takes time to understand and remember all them. By presenting this information on a consistent annual basis, all parties will be reminded of the importance of the University copyright policies and have the opportunity to have questions regarding the use clarified.

Cons: Opportunities of mandatory faculty and/or staff assembly are limited, especially for the adjunct faculty, who are most at risk for misunderstanding all the University policies. When such assemblies are held there is a large amount of content to be addressed. The amount of time that will realistically be able to be provided to this topic will be further limited.