It's the Law
It is very important that students and teachers follow Copyright law and be aware of the Fair Use guidelines.

• A copyright is a grant by the United States of exclusive rights over the writings of an author, including software.
• A Copyright protects only the expression, not the idea.
• Expressions are inherently copyrighted at creation.
• The right to sue for infringement requires claims of copyright to be registered in the Copyright Office.
• Registration requires creator to fill out copyright forms and submit.
• Expression must display copyright symbol.
• Innovative and/or novel software algorithms or constructions protection requires submission of an intellectual property disclosure form and review by the UTA Intellectual Property Committee as a process patent.
• Ideas can be protected through patent application.

The official copyright site from the Library of Congress has information about copyright, how to register a work, how to record a document and information about law and policy.

The Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia defines the limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holders. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide guidance on the application of fair use principles by educators, scholars and students who develop multimedia projects using portions of copyrighted works under fair use rather than by seeking authorization for non-commercial educational uses. These guidelines apply only to fair use in the context of copyright and to no other rights.

The Teach Act expands the scope of educators' rights to perform and display works and to make the copies integral to such performances and displays for digital distance education, making the rights closer to those we have in face-to-face teaching.
If you would like to copyright your information on the Internet, you may register it at the Copyright Website.

Check out A Fair(y) Use Tale video created by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University. He created a humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles using sayings from our favorite Disney characters.

The newest information on "Fair Use" has come out from the American University Media Education Lab. You can find the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media education Literacy Education and the Code of Best Practices in fair Use for Online Video.

There have been new books published recently on Public Domain which would be very useful for school use. In James Boyle's new book, //The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of Mind//, the "sealed crustless sandwich" is just one example of patent law gone awry. Boyle argues that current law is making it harder and harder to share information and ideas to the detriment of the culture at large. His book is available for free online here.
Another book is by Attorney Steve Fishman who just recently published Public Domain How to Find and Use Copyright-Free Writing, Music, Art and More.