Because educators spend more than $500 per year on classroom resources, using copied materials saves them and under-funded schools money. However, their efforts to cut personal and local expenses may cost them even more if sued for infringement of U.S. copyright laws.
According to the United States Copyright Office, educators may incorporate portions of copyrighted materials if used for “teaching, scholarship, and research” into their lessons. However, teachers must measure their use of the material against it being “for nonprofit educational purposes” and “the amount … of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.”
Many believe that their usage of copyrighted materials is acceptable if they use them as teaching tools and are not financially compensated. Educationworld.com posted a five-part series addressing copyright and fair use issues for educators. In the “Is Fair Use a License to Steal?” article, Linda Starr quoted Nancy Willard, who once worked as a copyright attorney, to say that these educators are misinformed.
Melissa England, a teacher at Clarkrange High School (Tennessee), said, “I don’t remember [copyright] being addressed in my education classes or in my Master’s classes.
“We’re so focused on finding materials for our students that we don’t consider the legal ramifications. We address [plagiarism with students], but are we modeling it with everything we do? We are so busy trying to find information that we don’t take time to give credit.”
In his article “Do the (Copy)right Thing,” Neal Starkman wrote, “It’s that widespread assumption that copyright simply doesn’t apply to education that can, and has, gotten districts into trouble.”
Willard, who also serves as the director of Embrace Civility in the Digital Age, told Starr, “’The essence of the fair use doctrine is that a person is not using the work in such a manner that is, or has the potential of, diverting income from the creator.’”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, reported in 2013, that author Jeff Gray sued Clark County Schools for posting his book online rather than the administration buying copies for its employees. When Penn State sent a cease-and-desist letter to a school in Buna, Texas, for using their trademarked mascot logo, Russell Heistuman, a graphic designer in Idaho, helped the school redesign and market an updated logo. The SunSentinel (Ft. Lauderdale) reported a dispute between the Walt Disney Company and the owners of three daycare centers who had painted copyrighted characters on their exterior walls.
Based on Starr’s guidelines, educators should copy no more than 10 percent of books, poetry, articles, short stories or essays or one graphic from published works. She also added that teachers should not copy works with the intent to avoid purchasing materials or forget to source authors, even if using materials under the fair use law.
Carol Simpson, a professor and consultant on copyright issues in schools, concurs with the 10 percent rule in her teacher resource called “How much material may I use in my PowerPoint® presentation?”
Starkman also wrote, “Without a mandate from the district or a push from principals, teachers remain inattentive to and unschooled in copyright law as well, exposing their districts to litigation and modeling unlawful behavior for their students.”
England said, “We could have professional development, but, again, I don’t know, that if we do that, who would monitor it or make sure everyone is following the rules.”
Resources for school and teachers on copyright compliance
- “Copyright Compliance: Compliance Policy” by Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
- “Managing copyright in schools” by Carol Simpson
- “Schools, the Internet, and Copyright Law” by Nancy Willard
- “Copyright for teachers” by the Digital Citizenship website at Auburn University
Resources for educators to teach copyright compliance
- Copyright Interactive by Cyberbee.com
- “Plagiarism Workshop: A hotlist and lesson plan for 8-12th grade” by Janice Cooper
- Lesson plans for preventing plagiarism by Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
- “Resources for Teaching High School Students about Copyright Issues” by Dr. Jim Grunwald