Copyright has been around for centuries and its role has become even more important as the internet has facilitated the sharing of various works. It is especially important for teachers to learn a bit of the history of copyright, become aware of the laws, and act accordingly. Yes, Fair Use and the TEACH Act do protect us in most cases, but we should not simply assume. It is our responsibility to assess each situation independently and model good digital citizenship by abiding by the copyright laws. The Copyright Office is currently part of the Library of Congress; I agree with the Hudson Institute in that the U.S. Copyright Office should be separated from the Library of Congress. The White Paper states that the structure for the Copyright Office within the Library of Congress and the role of the Register of Copyrights enacted in 1897 is still currently in place (Tepp & Oman, 2015, p. 6). Over a hundred years of technological innovations have gone by, the digital age has swept in, and those structures remain unchanged. It is time for this office to be modernized. Since many changes are underway, they might as well go ahead and separate from the Library of Congress. The Copyright Office may have been able to efficiently fulfill its purpose under the Library of Congress in the late 19th century, but that does not seem to be the case for the 21st century. The Copyright Office should be working independently to be able to efficiently address items that are presented and not be restricted in its operation by the Library of Congress. By the same token, the Library of Congress could also take on more endeavors if it were not burdened by the operations of the Copyright Office. To understand copyright laws, it is important to be familiar with the following terms: plagiarism, copyright infringement, attribution, and transformation. Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and claiming it as your own. An example of plagiarism would be a student finding a published essay of the assigned topic online, copying and pasting it, and submitting the essay as his/her own work. Copyright infringement is violating the rights of the copyright holders; for the most part it means using someone's work without obtaining their permission first. An example of copyright infringement would be a teacher buying a book and printing copies of the book to give all her students. Attribution is officially recognizing the original author of a piece of work; essentially giving them credit for their work. An example of attribution is when you cite and include a references page in written piece. Transformation is when you rework the original piece and transform its overall purpose, which will typically justify the use of copyrighted work under fair use. An example would be Weird Al's music videos, since he transforms the original work into a parody. To gain a better understanding on copyright, fair use, and the TEACH Act, I recommend viewing the following videos.
References:
A. (2009, October 02). "Weird Al" Yankovic - White & Nerdy (Official Video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw C. (2014, September 05). Copyright and Fair Use Animation. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suMza6Q8J08 C. (2015, April 23). Introduction to Intellectual Property: Crash Course IP 1. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQOJgEA5e1k C. (2015, April 30). Copyright Basics: Crash Course Intellectual Property 2. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tamoj84j64I Copyright Clearance Center. (2011). The TEACH Act. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CR-Teach-Act.pdf TEACH Act-DmF. (2013, April 25). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flvmGgyJvEI Tepp, S., & Oman, R. (2015). A 21st Century Copyright Office: The Conservative Case for Reform. White Paper. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
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