Who Owns It?

Finding Things | Who Owns It?

Who Owns It?

Now that you have become adept at finding things on the Web, you should be aware of the important question of ownership and copyright: what things on the Web may be freely downloaded and what things may not be, at least not without restrictions? For Web users in the K-12 environment this is of double importance: not only should you be aware of personal legal liabilities, you also are generally influencing the attitudes of students toward these issues, which may have much larger implications than your personal legal exposure.

Copyright Law

The question of what you may legitimately download can be a very sticky one. In some cases it it simple: clearly trademarked commercial logos (e.g., the Golden Arches) are likely to be protected by trademark law and an army of corporate lawyers. At the other extreme are tutorials like the one you are using now, for which the authors have given explicit permission for you to use it as you would like (subject to some broad restrictions).
Of course, even in the above "clear-cut" situations things may still be murky. For example, someone may give you permission to copy something from their page when they do not have the authority to do so. If they insert someone's corporate logo on their page and then give you permission to copy it, they may have violated copyright or trademark law in placing the image there to begin with. This example illustrates two important principles:

Just because something appears on the Internet does not mean that it is legal for you to copy it.

The law generally holds that it is YOUR responsibility to determine the legality of copying something, irrespective of whether the source from which you copy it has broken the law or not.

A related point to bear in mind is that when, as in the case of the Tutorial, someone gives you permission to use their material, this permission does not extend to material that may be accessed by a link from the original material. The question of how material accessed in an external link may be used clearly must be put to ITS owner.
Notice carefully the distinction: you may usually insert a link to someone else's Web material in your pages without restriction; the issue of ownership becomes important only when you attempt to download material (text, images, movies, . . .) from other Web sites and incorporate it directly into your Web material.

Fair Use

Although copyright law protects those who create the work, even a protected work can be "used" under certain circumstances. This circumstance is known as "fair use" and according to the Copyright Law, copying work "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
There are restrictions for fair use, but the purpose of this section isn't to dispense legal advice. We merely want to make you aware that there are some important legal considerations when using material from the Web.

More Information

Here are some links to more extensive discussions of copyright, fair use and trademark law:

A Brief Intro to Copyright

U.S. Copyright Office

10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained

United States Patent and Trademark Office

University of Tennessee Library pages on Fair Use

A Short Course on Copyright for Educators

You are well advised to look at this material if you intend to download and use significant amounts of material from the Web.


			Finding Things \| Who Owns It?
		Who Owns It? Now that you have become adept at finding things on the Web, you should be aware of the important question of ownership and copyright: what things on the Web may be freely downloaded and what things may not be, at least not without restrictions? For Web users in the K-12 environment this is of double importance: not only should you be aware of personal legal liabilities, you also are generally influencing the attitudes of students toward these issues, which may have much larger implications than your personal legal exposure. Copyright Law The question of what you may legitimately download can be a very sticky one. In some cases it it simple: clearly trademarked commercial logos (e.g., the Golden Arches) are likely to be protected by trademark law and an army of corporate lawyers. At the other extreme are tutorials like the one you are using now, for which the authors have given explicit permission for you to use it as you would like (subject to some broad restrictions). Of course, even in the above "clear-cut" situations things may still be murky. For example, someone may give you permission to copy something from their page when they do not have the authority to do so. If they insert someone's corporate logo on their page and then give you permission to copy it, they may have violated copyright or trademark law in placing the image there to begin with. This example illustrates two important principles: Just because something appears on the Internet does not mean that it is legal for you to copy it. The law generally holds that it is YOUR responsibility to determine the legality of copying something, irrespective of whether the source from which you copy it has broken the law or not. A related point to bear in mind is that when, as in the case of the Tutorial, someone gives you permission to use their material, this permission does not extend to material that may be accessed by a link from the original material. The question of how material accessed in an external link may be used clearly must be put to ITS owner. Notice carefully the distinction: you may usually insert a link to someone else's Web material in your pages without restriction; the issue of ownership becomes important only when you attempt to download material (text, images, movies, . . .) from other Web sites and incorporate it directly into your Web material. Fair Use Although copyright law protects those who create the work, even a protected work can be "used" under certain circumstances. This circumstance is known as "fair use" and according to the Copyright Law, copying work "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." There are restrictions for fair use, but the purpose of this section isn't to dispense legal advice. We merely want to make you aware that there are some important legal considerations when using material from the Web. More Information Here are some links to more extensive discussions of copyright, fair use and trademark law: A Brief Intro to Copyright U.S. Copyright Office 10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained United States Patent and Trademark Office University of Tennessee Library pages on Fair Use A Short Course on Copyright for Educators You are well advised to look at this material if you intend to download and use significant amounts of material from the Web.