Education Copyright Law The Nuts and Bolts of Education Copyright Law It is a wonderful thing that Education Copyright

Law is available for educators. It isnt only teachers that can take advantage of education copyright law. Studen ts are also covered under education copyright law -- to a degree. Teachers are a ble to use copyrighted materials in their classroom and make copies of them. Stu dents are also able to use copyrighted materials in school projects. The key to education copyright law is how often a teacher or student uses copyrighted mater ial, in what way they are using it and how many copies they have of it. It is i mportant that teachers and students do not cross the line of education copyright law or they could be in for some stiff penalties. It helps many students and teachers to learn what exactly is not copyrighted. An y work that is in the public domain is not copyrighted and can be used in school and for school projects. Work that is not in the public domain is copyrighted a nd if you use it you should make sure you fall within the fair use or education copyright law regulations. Many people do not know what exactly fair use copyright regulations are. When yo u are trying to see if you can use anothers words, you should keep a few things i n mind. The answer to the following questions will help you gage whether you wou ld be violating a copyright. First, are you transforming someone elses work or ar e you copying it directly? If you are using another persons work directly, for wh at purpose and how much of the original authors work are you using? Many publishing companies have set rules on how much material they will allow to be quoted in other sources. Some of these ranges start at 100 words or less. H owever, there are truly no standards to go by, so be careful. You can not assume that keeping your copying fewer than 50 words will allow you to pass under the radar especially if the original piece is hovering around 125 words itself! Ther e is a greater amount of room to maneuver when it comes to technical writing. For instance, if you are writing a report on something that involves a lot of re porting from an expert, you would probably need to quote more of their work than you would a fiction novelists work. The fair use copyright law enables people to use portions of material that is copyrighted for the purposes of criticism or a s commentary. Individuals who are involved in the distance education field should take a look at the TEACH Act that was made into law in 2002. This Act clearly outlines the r equirements that a university or school must be in compliance with when it comes to transmitting copyrighted works via the Internet. The TEACH Act allows students and teachers to transmit copyrighted works, but ey must be within certain guidelines. If the school or university cannot meet ese guidelines, the material that is being transmitted via the Internet needs fall within the fair use copyright act or the individuals involved need to permission from the copyright owner. th th to have

If you are an educator and you are using copyrighted material make sure it falls within the education copyright law.