What is the consequence of a copyright violation? How
serious is it to violate copyright laws
Copyright violations can lead to hefty fines - up to $100,000
per violation in some cases.
Ignorance of the law is not a defense.
What are the ways that a copyrighted work can be used legally?
There are certain circumstances when it is ok to use copyrighted materials.
For example, for academic and educational purposes, as evidence in court,
libraries can reproduce portions of copyrighted works to replace or restore
damaged items.
If a copyrighted work is included incidentally, it is not a violation.
For example, a live news newscast from a mall that has copyrighted
music playing in the background is not a violation.
What about educational purposes? Are teachers and students free
to use copyrighted materials as much as they want?
There are four guidelines and restrictions on the “fair use” of
educational material.
- Must be for a non profit purpose. So if a
teacher were to make photocopies of an article, she can’t charge
more than her actual cost.
- Consider the nature of the work being copied. – a tv program
is treated differently from a poem or a book.
- Limitation on use.
Use only the minimum amount necessary to achieve your educational goals.
This is a very fuzzy area, but a rule of thumb is ten percent.
- The final
and most important element is the cumulative effect on the market value
of the original work. You can’t copy off a chapter
in a book to save students the cost of buying the book, since that
would reduce book sales for the author of the book.
You can have good intentions, but violate the law. So it is
important to understand copyright law.
