Some Definitions About Copyright

Copyright - the creator's exclusive right to license, exploit, make copies, and sell the products of his or her creativity. Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. o US Copyright Office Copyleft - the right to use, share, modify, or copy creative products as long as these rights are guaranteed to subsequent holders. Fair use - the use of a copyrighted product without permission is allowed if used for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. In addition, the following factors need to be evaluated when determining fair use: o Is it being used for commercial or nonprofit educational purposes? o What is the nature of the copyrighted work? o The amount of the work used cannot change the work as a whole. o The effect of the use of the work cannot effect its marketability. o US Copyright Office - Fair Use Creative Commons - a nonprofit organization that arranges for people to share their copyrights with everyone, while reserving some rights for themselves. This enables artists and writers to allow their work to be available to everyone so they can build on or with it, while protecting the works from being commercially exploited against their owners' wishes. This practice helps build an artistic community full of things to use to teach and play with! o http://creativecommons.org/ Open source - the availability of software, products, or systems source code to the public. For example, the Linux OS is open source, in that the source code is open to be rewritten and modified by each user. It allows for greater innovation, creativity, and personalization that other closed source OS like iOS and Windows. Android and Chrome are also open source and accessible to anyone that wants to write an app or an extension, or modify the code. Free software - software that is free to copy, redistribute, and modify, for commercial and noncommercial use, as long as they don't impose any new restrictions on its distribution or use (see "Copyleft"). o Free Software Foundation Public domain - works that are free from most or all copyright restrictions and are available to the public for use in teaching, research, and artistic expression and innovation. Open education - the movement to make as much educational material available to the public online as possible. It also describes the network of virtual schools, portals, libraries, and other educational resources around the world, all directed at the open education of as many people as is feasible. o OER Case Studies