Technology Trends

What is copyright?

     Copyright is the legal ownership of one’s own work. It is the right of the creator to control who uses his or her work. Specifically, the creator has the right to control copying, distributing, deriving, and displaying the original work. There are some qualifications for the copyright law; not just any work can claim a copyright. First, the work has to be tangible (i.e. an article, book, or piece of art), not an idea. Second, the work must be original, meaning that you cannot derive your work from someone else’s. That wouldn’t follow copyright laws, would it? Third, the work must contain creative expression. You can’t just write down a grocery list and claim copyright to it. Last, the work cannot be a title or slogan.

Copyright Infringement and Fair Use

     Copyright infringement is when one or more of the aforementioned copyright laws are broken. Without permission from the creator of the work, copying, distributing, deriving, or displaying the original work is a violation of copyright law.

Additionally, the work can be considered copied even if it isn’t directly copied. If the copy is similar enough to the original, it is considered a violation. Thus, in order to use copyrighted work, the creator of the work must give permission to the user per request.

     Fair use, though not a legal right, allows one to use a copyrighted work, should they believe that the use of the work is used fairly. The fair use doctrine is a defense for the user of the work should they be accused of copyright infringement. Fair use is difficult to determine, but follows some guidelines, including the intended use, nature, amount, and effect of the work. Essentially, the fair use guidelines allow others to use copyrighted work for specific purposes, including education, entertainment, and research.

Example of Copyright Infringement

     A very common example of copyright infringement is the illegal downloading of copyrighted music or another digital media. There are many websites that allow users to download songs, videos, or games without the permission of the copyright holder. Unfortunately, this goes uncaught much too often and the creator of the work loses potential profits for that work.

Example of Fair Use

     An example of fair use that is fairly common is minimal copying of a copyrighted work by students for academic use. For example, if a student were to give a presentation and use a quote or paragraph from a book, fair use can be implemented because it’s intent is to inform others and its nature is academic.

     An example of fair use is the reverse engineering of technological products. It is considered fair to disassemble a product to determine how it works, but it is copyright infringement to determine how it works and derive a similar product.

Academic Dishonesty

     Academic dishonesty, including cheating, deception, and fabrication, is commonly not thought of as copyright infringement. While not the same, the two are very closely related. Academic dishonesty is when a teacher or professor is deceived (i.e., his or her efforts to teach are taken for granted by a student); it is an unethical act that often results in serious consequences. Unfortunately, this occurs all too often in the form of plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs when the one’s work is copied and submitted without proper quoting, paraphrasing, or citing. Unfortunately, despite strict academic misconduct rules, the rates of plagiarism are on the rise.

Software Copyright Laws

     Copyright laws apply to many works in general, but there are specific laws for different types of works. For example, there is a specific set of laws that only apply to downloading software. These laws include agreeing to the terms upon downloading the software, only downloading it on a certain number of devices, and not sharing the software with others. Additionally, the software should not be copied, known as software piracy. Technically, when a user downloads software, he or she does not own it, and thus cannot rightfully share it with others. Doing so is an infringement of copyright.

Copyleft and Creative Commons

     Copyleft, in general, is modifying a copyright in order to make it free for others to use. Essentially, the creator of a copyright can allow certain distribution terms to his or her work in order give the right for others to use, modify, or distribute the work. However, the terms of use must be followed in order to avoid copyright infringement.

     Creative Commons, on the other hand, is a license for the creator of the work that allows others to share his or her work to the public. There are few limitations to a Creative Commons license, including attribution, non-derivatives, and shareAlike. Attribution allows others to derive the creator’s work as long as credit is given. Non-derivatives allows others to use the creator’s work exactly like the original as long it is not a derivative. Finally, shareAlike allows others to derive the original work as long as the licenses for the original and the derivative are the same.

References

Cheon, Jongpil, and Steven Crooks. "Great River Learning.” WebCOM™ 2.0. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 July 2017.