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That educational law class you took probably didn't touch copyright law at all. If you rely on your retained counsel to keep you clear of copyright quagmires, you might be [...]

This article describes how copyright violations happen in schools and suggests ways to prevent them. This article begins by presenting several scenarios showing how copyright violations happen in schools. Interpreting, and to some extent enforcing, copyright policies has long been regarded as a responsibility of the school's library media specialist. Intellectual property, before schools adopted computers and connected to the Internet, was found primarily in print and audiovisual formats--both types of resources largely controlled by the school's librarian. The librarian is among the few educators whose professional training includes information about copyright, and he or she has traditionally been viewed as the local expert on intellectual property issues. However, with intellectual property increasingly available in digital formats, the role of the library media specialist as the copyright cop in untenable. All educators who deal with technology need to understand the legal and illegal uses of intellectual property if a school hopes to both keep free of copyright lawsuits and provide ethical models for students to emulate. The first part of this article discusses several factors that influence educators' behavior with respect to copyright.

Presents an answer to a question pertaining to copyright infringement issues in audio-visual education. Legality of showing a motion picture to a group of students, as part of their educational curriculum.

The article presents questions and answers related to copyright. A person asks whether podcasting a book for read-aloud for students would amount to a copyright violation. Another person asks about giving credit to each patriotic image, which were collected from various Internet sources and shown through a PowerPoint during a song performance in a concert. One person asks whether a teacher can sell an instructional unit, which has been developed by the teacher and her students.

The article provides answers to questions about copyright laws as they apply to school libraries.

The article presents questions and answers related to copyright and audio-visual education including where to report observed infringement of copyright, time limit of posting student produced book trailers in the school page, and if popular music can be played during intermission, time-outs such at a basketball game and school performance if there is an admission charge.

The article presents questions and answers related to copyright including the legal works for a reprint, compliance to the fair use guidelines, and the use of an image to replace the original cover.

The article provides answers to questions about copyright issues in the library in the U.S. including whether there is a copyright violation when a teacher takes a downloadable format of a classical piece of literature, take less than 10% of it and translate it, one about copyright issues when copying an audiobook and another one about public performance license and class showing.

The article presents questions and answers related to library media centers in the United States. A reader wants to begin podcasting in his library media center but is having difficulty locating background music with the ability to podcast/broadcast. Another asks where he should go if he finds a school district is in violation of copyright laws. One reader wants to know about companies that edit R-rated movies and then sell the edited version. He has been referred to Cleanflicks.com, Editmymovies.com, and Familyflix.net.

The article presents questions and answers related to copyright. One person asks whether DVD purchased through vendors have public performance licensing. Another questions the legality of creating a copy of the film "To Kill a Mockingbird." A reader asks whether the use of images from the Internet at a Career and Technology Education exhibit is safe. Finally, another reader inquires whether the use of reproductions of book covers from the Internet with the create-it-yourself mug from Starbucks® is possible.

The article provides a list of considerations concerning copyright and what do to avoid plagiarism. Teachers must be aware of the ratings for all audiovisual materials shown to students. A copyright compliance agreement must be signed prior to the use of items. One must not use films or videos for reinforcement or reward. Cartoons or film characters must not be used for decorations, bulletin boards, or handouts. A written permission to retain recordings of useful program is also valuable. Furthermore, one must not record programs from cable television without investigating the recordings rights.

This article presents a question-answer advisory related to the field of copyright and educational information services. Sometimes it is written in a book that no portion of this book may be reproduced or copied without written permission of the publisher. A question asks whether this is "fair use." The article holds that a notice in a book cannot override federal law regarding fair use. However, a signed contract or license can. It is impossible to answer the question without knowing the book, where it came from, how it was acquired, etc. Copying for classroom use, in limited amounts as suggested in the print guidelines, is permissible. Going far beyond that limit is probably not fair use. This appears to be, from the description in the question, an extracurricular use. In that case, all of the classroom guidelines go out the window and one falls back on standard fair use--the four tests. One has to consider if this work is creative, if it is published, if the use is nonprofit, how much of the work one is using, and what effect the use will have on the market for or value of the work. The article further focuses on other questions.

This section presents a Middletown School District (MSD) copyright infringement reporting form. It requires details such as name of person allegedly violating copyright laws, date of infringement, name of the campus and description of infringement incident. MSD has the legal responsibility to abide by copyright laws. Employees of the district shall comply with all the provisions of the United States Copyright Law.

Presents several question-and-answer articles on copyright. Rule on using video in a presentation; Aspects of the fair use policy; Ownership of the copyright of a logo.

Presents the views of the author about the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 in the U.S. Impact of the law on schools; Criminalization of some copyright infringements that were only civil cases; Legalization of the technology invented by ClearPlay Inc.

The article responds to questions from school librarians and library media specialists. It encourages copying substitute for textbooks. An assessment is made whether it is copyright infringement if a downloaded MARC record is used for a library's catalog. Mechanical reproduction of school plays is discussed. Another response focused on the application of the fair use guidelines if children area allowed to watch a video of an activity that was taken during a rainy day even of the school does not have public performance rights for the video.

This article presents questions and answers on issues related to copying workbooks and reproducing images, published in the January 1, 2004 issue of the journal Library Media Connection. In case if a student loses his workbook, the only time copies of consumables can he made is if an unused replacement copy is no longer available at a reasonable cost. However, once the order is off for the replacement, the teacher can make page-by-page copies until the replacement arrives. On issues related to copyrights of images used in library, it is important that one must assume that any document or image is protected by copyright.