Schools are by definition a place of learning, which is a process of self discovery. What does it mean for a school to own something that comes out of your head while you’re working or attending there? It’s true that these discoveries happen with the aid of school resources, but others might argue that the product of all of a school’s resources is learning (or at least maybe it should be).

Educational technologists have recently worried about student’s owning the copyight to their assignments (which now often appear online)–this is an interesting twist on a similar problem.

I’ll admit that my thoughts on this feel half-baked at the moment.

Jerry Scroggin is the owner of Bayou Internet and Communications(BIC),
a small ISP based in Monroe, Louisiana with around 11,000 small
business, residential, and municipal customers. BIC already receives
notifications from the RIAA each month, and each time”I ask for their
billing address,” Scroggin told CNET. “Usually, I never hear back.”

 Techdirt also mentions something that crossed my mind, but didn’t make it into the blog post–taking the fight out of the courts allows the recording industry to sidestep due process. It may make less of a “public statement,” but privately settling these disputes might ensure an outcome that’s more agreeable and perhaps (from their perspective) better than they might have won under the law.

I recently gave a brief talk on copyright for a Digital Storytelling workshop. I promised to share the materials, the slides and a quick summary of what I said for each slide are after the break.

Slide 2:
If you are using copyrighted materials in your course, you are in part relying on the doctrine of “fair use.” Fair use looks at how you are using the copyrighted work to see if you are doing so permissibly. This overview glosses over a lot of details, but you get the general idea.

If you are not making money off of your use (i.e. what you’re doing is not commercial), the use is more fair.

If you are copying someone’s creative expression, such as the framing of a photo or a turn of the phrase, your use is less fair than copying facts.

If you are taking a great deal or the “best part” of a copyrighted work, your use is less fair. A small part, like a single image from a movie, is more fair.

If someone might avoid purchasing a copyrighted work because of how you used it, your use is less fair.

As with most things in law, someone can still sue you no matter how fair you believe your use to be.

Slide 3:
A few rules of thumb for working with copyrighted works.

A few points are worth further comment:

“We could craft copyright law to encourage a wide range of both professional and amateur creativity, without threatening Prince’s profits.” …I like this argument for a balance in the law where professional creative-types are still able to profit, while still loosening control for equally valuable amateur copying.

“Peer-to-peer file sharing is the enemy in the “copyright wars.” Kids “stealing” stuff with a computer is the target. The war is not about new forms of creativity, not about artists making new art.” …another great distinction between replacement copying (which carries an economic harm) and profitless but creative amateur creativity.

“Our kids live in an age of prohibition, where more and more of what seems to them to be ordinary behavior is against the law. They recognize it as against the law. They see themselves as “criminals. … That recognition is corrosive. It is corrupting of the very idea of the rule of law” …it’s not in the article, but gobs of theory and research can back up Lessig’s claim here.

I’m not sure if Lessig was responsible, but the sidebar with mash-y creations is also a good compilation for the unititiated.  His policy recomendations are not bad as well.  I’m looking forward to the book.