Here’s an amazing story about new efforts by the Copyright Society of the USA to educate children on the law of copyright and fair use.
The Patry Copyright Blog: Kopyright and Kids Continued
Aside from inaccuracies about fair use, what is most concerning to me is the potential for something like this to stifle young creativity. I’m of the opinion that learning often requires one to copy something they like and build upon it. I’d say this is how garage bands, painters, writers, and all future artists find their voice.
On the other hand, the effects of this might depend on the actual content of the educational materials. For example, the Society’s kids page on “registering your own works” states:
Under the current U.S. copyright laws, copyright protection is secured automatically when the work is “fixed” — meaning when it is created and fixed in a tangible form and can be seen, reproduced or otherwise communicated for more than a transitory or temporary time.
What kid (or non-lawyer for that matter) talks like this, anyway?