Tips to avoid copyright infringement

Books, journal and magazine articles
Movies, Commercials, Television shows, cable programs, etc. - Multimedia
Music or File-sharing or Downloading
The Wonderful World of the Internet
“So is plagiarism a copyright violation?”
“When does copyright expire for an ‘expression’?”
“I am still confused.”

Remember this and you are, in most cases, not going to violate copyright: “Don’t copy the entire thing!” Copy only portions of a copyrighted work. Now you may ask: What size is a portion? Well, it is more than a very small word and less than the whole entire piece of work. In other words, if you copy only what you need, there’s a good chance that you won’t violate the copyright.

You can make single copies of a chapter of a book; an article from a journal or magazine; a short story, essay or portions of a poem, but not the complete poem.

You are exercising your right of “fair use.” One can be certain, though, what is fair to one person probably is not fair to the copyright holder. So, use caution when you are copying any piece of copyrighted expression.

“I want to use a Donkey clip from the movie “Shrek” in my psychology class. I want to demonstrate a personality disorder, narcissism. Is it legal to use portions of movies in a presentation? “

This is a fair use question. Yes, you are allowed to use portions, up to 10% or 3 minutes, from multimedia in presentations. You must, however, be using it for educational purposes, not for its entertainment value. Since you are only using a small portion of the movie and only for one class presentation, fair use comes into play. If you were to distribute your presentation or use it for other presentations besides the one time in the classroom, then it would be a violation of copyright. You would need permission from the copyright holder in order to use it.

Copying an entire video, DVD, CD, or film is a violation of copyright even for personal use. You are copying it to avoid purchase, thus you are violating the copyright law protecting it.

Regarding the downloading of music from free file sharing services: Just don’t do it! The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is targeting college students who use the Internet to illegally download music. Use the free service provided by Wright State University, Napster. It is safer and very convenient to use.

If you want to use music in your presentation, you can copy up to 10% of the whole work if it is not a performable piece such as a selection, movement, or aria.

The Wonderful World of the Internet

Sorry, but for the most part, the entire internet is copyrighted. And in this era of copyright madness, you can bet that most of the web sites you visited are using other people’s copyrighted expressions without their consent. You can’t take and adapt someone else’s web page for your own use. As a general rule, when copying from the Internet, follow the general guidelines for print, multimedia and fair use copying. Or, just ask for permission to use the web page.

Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s idea and claiming it as your own, in other words, cheating. The difference between plagiarism and copyright violation is about the amount of material being used. For example, using a paragraph from an author in your own research paper and not citing it would constitute plagiarism. Copying a whole article and claiming it as your own would be both a copyright violation and plagiarism.

“When does copyright expire for an ‘expression’?”

Don’t worry about when a copyright expires. You most likely will be long dead when it happens. Treat everything you find, regardless of where, as a copyrighted expression. You’ll be safer that way.

“I am still confused.”

 Ask a librarian! Librarians must deal with copyrighted material and issues everyday. Seek out a librarian’s advice on any questions you may have about a copyrighted work, copying, sharing, boat hull designs, etc.