#copyright exceptions

[autamme-blog]

The making of an ‘orphan’

The abstract does a good job in setting the scene to a quite complex situation concerning copyright and orphan works, an issue that can impede digitalization and access to cultural heritage, especially within the multimedia realm. The European Union has sought to simplify matters with...

More via http://n.ews.fi/2tGdhAu

[k8iemorgan]

Copyright in education

Guidance and details about the appropriate exceptions to copyright for an educational establishment can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright#non-commercial-research-and-private-study.

Students and researchers are allowed to make limited copies of all types of copyright works for non commercial or private study, but use of copyright material requires acknowledgement, this is due to the copyright law in the UK being changed in 2003. Some activities that were permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 are now permitted with some amendments. The restrictions were added to most permitted uses of copyright material (which effect education).

The restrictions:

permitted activities must be for non-commercial purposes; and

uses of copyright materials require acknowledgement

It is important that educational establishments and their staff think carefully about whether any of their activities are making money and consequently may not be for non-commercial purposes. This could be related to courses such as summer schools where applicants pay a course fee that solely generates an income for the educational establishment, or university research that is sponsored by a commercial enterprise. More information about the effect these copyright restrictions have on education can be found on this informative article on http://www.out-law.com/page-332.

My Organisations copyright policy

It was surprising to find that the organisation where I work does not have a specific copyright policy. There are copyright issues embedded into other policies and the most relevant one that I could find is our ILCT policy, which is held by the Library.

Copyright is widely discussed in relation to the Internet, software, music, video and more general statements are included such as: ‘Never transmit material such that it infringes the copyright of another person’ and ‘Observe all restrictions, including copyright, placed on the use of information, software and data.’ A restriction that specifically relates to my subject area within the ILCT policy is: ‘Do not download music files (e.g. mp3, wma) or video files (e.g. mpg, avi) unless they are non-copyrighted and are necessary for work purposes.’

Students often ask about whether they can use music if it is for a college project and it has been a bit of a grey area to understand the uses, but my advice is to use music that is copyright free and free to use which can be found online.

On doing some further research I found that there has been a further update to copyright law in November 2014 and these changes directly relate to exceptions to copyright in education and teaching. The pdf highlighting these updates can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375951/Education_and_Teaching.pdf. 

It is good to see that changes have been made to help teachers deliver 21st Century multimedia teaching without risking the infringement of copyright. An excerpt from this document shows how the exceptions are now linked to a wider range of copyright works such as photographs, films and sound recordings:

‘The changes to the law apply these exceptions to a wider range of copyright works which were previously not covered – such as artistic works (including photographs), films and sound recordings. They also permit sharing of copies over secure distance learning networks. In order to carry out these activities, schools, colleges and universities simply need to make sure they hold the relevant licences.’ 

Thankfully, copyright law is being appropriately updated to meet current requirements. The previous law only allowed reprographic copying of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works in relation to teaching, but this has been replaced to allow copying of any works in any medium and this now means that teachers can now display on an interactive whiteboard, but the use must still be fair dealing.

Copyright within example OER’s

When researching for relevant OER’s (Open Educational Resource), I came across a course called: Art frees the soul, the sixth street photography workshop. They have used a Creative Commons license. As you can see below the conditions of use allow the user to share alike within a non commercial arena, and they specifically mention that you can remix and share as you like.

Creative Commons License Suite

Six basic licenses are offered by Creative Commons:

BY (Attribution) BY-SA (Attribution–ShareAlike) BY-NC (Attribution–NonCommercial) BY-ND (Attribution–NoDerivs) BY- NC-SA (Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike) BY-NC-ND (Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs)

There is a range of licensing and a good overview can be found here: http://www.saylor.org/read-the-fine-print/.

Another course that I thought could be relevant to my curriculum area was a character animation course. This had a custom license that at first I wasn’t sure how to interpret as it hadn’t used any of the usual licenses, but use a custom license that did not really tell you a lot other than it was at no cost.

Fortunately at the bottom of the page it had a Creative Commons license.

I would assume then, that this course is free to use and share, but not to amend or remix the contents. When I viewed the resources it was good to see that they could be shared in Google Classroom directly from the course page.

It is evident that it is always best to use a license to let people know what your conditions of use are as this makes it clear and less ambiguous and saves people having to contact the creator to ask permission to use it or ask what the conditions of use are.

[cchelberg]

So space shifting (ie personal DVD ripping, or any media really) is now without a copyright exemption for the next 3 years. Also, you can jailbreak your phone, but not your tablet. Also unlocking your own phone is also without an exemption for the time being. Mostly because you don't actually own your software, but license it. This lack of ownership really has consequences. (Via [cathylibrary](http://cathylibrary.tumblr.com/post/34511576375/exemption-to-prohibition-on-circumvention-of-copyright))

[mkiskis-blog]

Sad day for Lithuanian libraries

On December 21, 2011 the Lithuanian Parliament adopted the important amendments to the Lithuanian Copyright Law revising the exceptions for libraries and the disabled persons. 

Digitization of works by the libraries and access to digital copies are comprehensively restricted in the new law. Digitizing and using the digital copies of the works is allowed in the libraries (as well as museums and archives) for non-commercial research and personal study purposes only as long as:

1) the digital copies of the work are accessible only internally, on the terminals located in the premises of the library;

2) the work is not publicly available for sale;

3) rights holders have not prohibited such use;

4) the simultaneous access to the digital copy, shall not exceed physical number of “hard copies” of this work held by the library.

5) effective technical protection measures, restricting copying, transfer or external access, shall be employed by the libraries.

All of the above conditions shall be fulfilled by the libraries in order to digitize the work and use of the digital copy.

Things turned out much better for the disabled, though, at least partially due to my own efforts.

With respect to the disabled persons, the rules were relaxed and clarified. Prior to the new amendments the rights of the disabled to access digital works over computer networks was a grey area.

As a result of the new rules, it is now expressly allowed for the organizations of the disabled persons to make digital copies of the work and make them available over computer networks in audiobook and Braille formats, as well as adapted versions for persons with intellect and learning disabilities. Access control (rather than “effective technical protection measures”), restricting access only to the disabled persons, shall be employed by the organizations of the disabled, who want to engage in activities of making works available and accessible to the disabled.

New rules for libraries and disabled persons came into force as of January 10, 2012.