The reading this week was very informative and I learned more than I previously understood about these topics. I now understand the definition of copyright as meaning when you create something; tangible you have right by law to have it protected against other people claiming it as there own works. Copyright is getting permission to use someone’s work. What cannot be copyrighted are Ideas, methods, systems, common knowledge, choreographic works, speeches, names, titles, catchy phrases or expressions and fashion clothing. Understanding these definitions gave me a clearer understanding about the topic of copyright and better ability to explain these issues to my students.
The Good Copy Bad Copy video enlightened me about the pirating industry. The new generation will tell you that they cannot remember the last time they purchased a CD because they do not want to be forced to buy songs they do not like. The general feeling is that CDs may have one to two songs they like and the rest are fillers that you do not want but you have to buy anyway. If they download the songs, they only pick what they like.
New technologies have made it very easy to pirate others works. This abuse has grown and making it harder to catch the abuser. Once you close one down, they open up in different areas. The music industry is suffering from this. Before watching these videos, I personally did not realize this was such a worldwide problem of this type of magnitude. Majority of the music in Brazil and Nigeria is pirated music. It does not surprise me when they said that the major consumer is the African American community and the poor communities because they usually have the limited financial resources and when presented with the price of FREE or $5.00… Who can compete with this? I do know I can go to any corner in the urban neighborhoods and see vendors selling newly released songs and videos for $5.00 to $10.00.
Wk1 Reading: Copyright Issues part 2: What the Heck is Fair Use?
Fair Use can be a confusing and I think it is interpreted in different ways. I think that most people overlook the details behind these laws. I thought that as long as you were using the material for educational purpose and sited the sources it was OK to use it. It is important that as educators we start to teach this information as early as elementary school because students really do not understand the laws behind Copyright, Fair Use, and Plagiarism and continue to use other works unlawfully.
I agree that on the Shepard Fairey case he should have asked permission because it is obvious that the image came from the photo because they look identical. It almost looks like it was traced from the original photo. I believe that as an artist he knew what he was doing when he was creating the artwork and just took the chance with the hope that it would not be discovered. I admire Fairy’s marketing ability as well as his artistic talents. Before seeing these videos, I was not aware of that Fairey was the creator of the Obama image but I purchased several shirts, stickers etc. The Obama image was an instant marketing hit and the photographer should receive money and credit despite what the original intent of use.
Wk1 Reading: Copyright Issues Part 3: The Creative Commons Solution
The most important thing I learned about Creative Commons is that I must to put authors name on the work; I cannot change or sell the work I use from Creative Commons. Some of the resources presented in the video are excellent resources to use in creative project with your students
(http://ccmixter.org, http://www.opsound.org/, http://magnatune.com/, http://www.dmusic.com/, http://www.soundclick.com/, http://search creative commons.org)
In the video, Larry Lessig’s TED Talk about Remix Culture: Ted makes a statement that “Ordinary people is living life against the law”. This statement is so true when it applies to the Internet and what we do with the Internet. The Internet has made it easier to break the law and even the kids will find ways to misuse the privilege. He is right in saying this because the students seen to have this attitude that these behavior are ok and continue to download and sell products they know are copyrighted.
images from Microsoft Office.com
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/similar.aspx#ai:MP900402794|
great summary and over-view of the copyright issues materials.
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