Copyrights and Copy Wrongs

Review and Reaction to the Article:
“Copyrights and Copy Wrongs, Part 1 of an Education World Series on Copyright and Fair Use” (Starr)

In “Copyrights and Copy Wrongs,” the basics of copyright law are seen to dispel common misunderstandings regarding the use of internet resources for educational purposes (Starr). The article reviews on line resources that are within the public domain and on line resources that are protected by copyright law.
A copyrightable work must be tangible and creative. To be tangible, the work must be recorded in some manner. To be creative, the work must be more than a collection of fact; at minimum it must be a creative arrangement of fact.
The objective of copyrighting from a societal perspective is to encourage creativity through compensation of its author. Moreover, copyrights protect the author’s right to compensation and control over the use and reproduction of his work.
The extension of copyrights to an author is not limited by the registration of the work. Rights are granted when the work is recorded.
For me, this article was very enlightening. I learned that nearly everything recorded, video, audio, written, and digital images, may easily pass the test for copyrights. Many more works are copyrighted than not. I have always considered that a work on the internet was there for public use and that permission from the author was not required for its use. Because a work is on the internet, public domain is not implied.
Quotations and citations for the work do not obviate the copyrights of the author. Permission from the author must be obtained prior to use or that use constitutes infringement. I give credit beyond what many of my colleagues do and thought this was in effect the same as obtaining permission. Multiple copies of works may divert compensation from the author. Knowing this, I am surprised that some university classes I have had did this and can only think that they must have had permission.
The safest recourse is to seek permission before using or incorporating someone else’s work no matter whether the work is cited or not. Good intentions do not satisfy respect of authors or copyright law.

Work Cited
Starr, Linda. “Copyrights and Copy Wrongs, Part 1 of an Education World Series on
Copyright and Fair Use.” Education World. 2004. 31 Oct. 2008
<http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280a.shtml>.
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