March 2008 — Digital Content

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Do the (Copy)right Thing

by Neal Starkman

Some teachers, Freeman says, think that if published material, whether software, books, or music, is intended for educational purposes, they have free rein, while others believe that if something is freely available on the internet, nobody owns it. Both are false, potentially dangerous notions.

TEACHAct

In 2002, the federal Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act was signed into law to address the use of copyrighted materials in the burgeoning area of distance learning. The bill extended the fair-use exemptions that are allowed in the classroom to be applied to distance learning as well, and explains what conditions schools must comply with.

"It seems that it is more a lack of awareness than avoidance that keeps [copyright] from being a priority," says Maria Kardick, librarian at Spring-Ford Eighth-Grade Center in Royersford, PA. "Educators feel no one will sue them because they work for a school and they are exempt."

It's that widespread assumption that copyright simply doesn't apply to education that can, and has, gotten districts into trouble. The "fair use" provision of the US Copyright Act does exempt schools from some copyright infringement restrictions, but sets conditions on what constitutes fair use. But often, the only instruction in copyright law teachers receive comes from a sign hung over the school's copy machine. Simpson marvels that in school-law class, which she says is generally taken by school administrators and covers the various statutes and case law related to education, copyright isn't even mentioned. The first time that principals become aware of copyright law, she says, may be from a cease-and-desist order. Simpson says she doesn't know any district in the state of Texas that hasn't been hit with copyright infringement-but the issues are settled out of court and there aren't public records of them or subsequent case law to study. She says she started keeping her database of K-12 copyright cases to refute the nonchalant administrators who would tell her, "Just show me one district that ever got sued!"

"Just about every district where I do workshops tells me of some situation in that district or a neighboring district," Simpson says. She recalls the story of one teacher who attended a workshop on teaching science where the presenter proposed a guiding principle called CASE: Copy and Steal Everything.

"Somewhere," she says, "the message has gotten muddled."

Learning the Law

The solution, plainly, starts with bringing educators up to speed on copyright law. Dukelow says a good first step would be the codifying of a schoolwide or districtwide copyright policy, which would help forestall lawsuits and instruct principals, teachers, and students alike in the concept of intellectual rights. She thinks educators would find it helpful to view an existing copyright policy (see Bytesize), and she also refers them to the American Library Association's Copyright Advisory Network, where educators can post and receive responses to their copyright questions.