Let's Talk About a Video on Copyright

Submitted by leelefever on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 14:17

Topic:

Categories:

As you know, the future of the Common Craft library is in your hands.  We're dedicated to using your suggestions to help us decide what videos to make and we'd like to start today by asking you for input on a title we'll make soon.  That new title will be "Copyrights Explained by Common Craft" or something similar.  It was based on this suggestion:

Copyright, copy left, creative commons. Different types of copyright. how to work out what type a resource is? Could be part of plagerism, although I think of that as more with essays, art etc.

Here's how we plan to handle the process of gathering information and feedback from you:

1.  We create a blog post (as you see here) that becomes the home for discussion related to the future video.

2.  We add a link on the original suggestion that alerts members to visit the blog post to learn more.

3.  We ask you for input, suggestions, etc. via the comments on the blog post, hopefully giving Sachi and I a clearer understanding of what points would be most valuable to cover, for instance.

So here are a few questions to start. Please answer them from your perspective and how you use Common Craft videos:

  • What do people find most confusing about copyright, and why?
  • What big ideas should be covered in a video about copyright?
  • Who is the target audience and what are their needs?

Please leave comments with your feedback.  Thanks!

Comments

Submitted by Lee_Kolbert_123 on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 13:10

Hi Lee,
I think one of the things people find confusing is the idea that just because something is on the web, doesn't mean it's free to use or remix. Most people don't know about Creative Commons or other "legal" ways to use someone else's intellectual property. I think showing people how to do an advanced Google search would be a good idea.

I think students would benefit greatly from this video. High school students and college students (and their teachers) are likely to be your largest audience for this one.

Another big idea is how people can attempt to secure protection for their own intellectual property. There are sites with "scripts" where you an customize your own message to place on your webpage. Creativecommons.org is a great place to do this. Click on licenses at the top and once you fill out the form, you've got your own CC statement.

Good luck!
Lee

Submitted by leelefever on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:01

Thanks Lee! There might be 4-5 videos worth of info in your message. :) And I think that may be our struggle with this kind of video. Right now two of the top three most popular suggestions are copyright and Creative Commons and we're trying to figure out if that could be one video or two. Sometimes we just have to start writing a script and it becomes clear what makes sense. That process will start next week. Cheers!

Submitted by John_Moore_123 on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 07:18

I think it could cover:
Why do we need copyright - protect intellectual property
How do you tell if something is copyrighted
Common copyright options - creative commons etc and what you can do with the material - broad not detailed
How to mark your work as copyrighted
Where to find out more information?

John

Submitted by Paige_Henson_CF... on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 10:51

As of the Supreme Court Ruling of 1987 (?) The Reid Decision, anything a person or group creates that can be set to paper or made manifest in another tangible form (artwork, a musical score, a short story, a sculpture, a logo etc.) is automatically copyrighted by law. Just affix the copyright sign, the year, your name at the bottom of the work. Nothing else is required. You can also apply for an official copyright for a small fee and have it recorded by the feds. This is just one extra measure of security in case you need to prove something in a court case. But it's not necessary, because a copyright is automatic as soon as you do a creative work. So cool, huh? But just as anyone who wants to can sue you for just about anything...anyone can claim they own something you've done. Then, it just becomes a matter of proving it in court. I used to wn an ad agency, and everything we created for our clients (logos, print ads, TV spots, etc.) belonged to us automatically, under the Reid Decision. Now, if we so chose to do this, we COULD sell our copyright to the client so they could "own" their logo, or we could confer the rights in writing. But that would be our decision and theirs. The Supreme Court ruled this way because creative people were always getting ripped off with no way to protect themselves. One thing is true, however: You cannot copyright an IDEA. That's not a tangible expression.

Submitted by leelefever on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 12:04

Thanks for the John and Paige. We're working on the script right now and this helps a lot. I don't think many people know that copyright is pretty much automatic when something is created. I appreciate the legal/Supreme Court info Paige!

As part of the research, we looked into the criticisms of copyright and found it interesting, but not necessarily something for the video. It seems that the web has confounded things a bit. Interesting reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright#Anti-copyright_arguments

We're all ears if others have thoughts...

Submitted by Jason_Brausewet... on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 16:30

I'd like to understand the fine line for example, can I slap a copyright on this post to you and I own the rights? Perhaps my word copyrightable is copyright worthy?

© 2011 :)

Submitted by jamescracknell123 on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 08:48

I think you should touch of CC in the video as it is very important part of copyright. It is also part of school syllabus now when looking at copyright issues. Could also look at a few facts that music is copyrighted as soon as it is written down. However I think things need to be careful as laws vary per country.

Submitted by Shayne_Train_0C... on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 15:48

I see this as a whole series under the umbrella of Digital Literacy. For example:
* Copyright incl. mention of CC
* Creative Commons
* Citation 1. In-text or footnote 2. Sources Cited 3. Quotation marks or indented text for direct quotes
* Plagiarsm
* Finding CC Resources - using Usage Rights Filters
( http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=29508 )

As James mentioned, some topics are tricky eg. Fair Use, since the laws vary by country (I'm in Canada).