What does Copyright mean?
According to Merriam-Webster (2018), copyright is “the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell or distribute the matter and form of something such as a literary, musical or artistic work”.
“Ideas are not protected by copyright – just the unique expression of an idea” (Wrobel, 2016, slide 4).
What is the purpose of a Copyright and who owns it?
A copyright gives the creator control of the use of their creations for a set period of time. If the creator is an employee of an organization, then the employer will own the copyright. However, there were three exceptions to this rule. An employee will own the copyright if it is negotiated between parties in a (1) union agreement, (2) contract or sponsorship agreement and (3) publication agreement (Wrobel, 2016, slide 7).
What are the alternatives to copying?
Wrobel (2016) describes on slide 18 of her presentation the alternatives to copying to prevent copyright infringement. She shares the following points:
- Send a link instead of a copy
- Use public domain resources
- Use open access and open education resources
- Paraphrase (and remember to use citations)
- Purchase a resource
What are the copyright statements that should be used?
The copyright statement examples that were given were the following:
- © creator’s first and last name and the year it was created as well as the statement “All rights reserved.” For example: ©John Smith, 2018. All rights reserved.
- Creative Commons License – the different types of licenses can be found on https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
What is Royal Roads University’s Fair Dealing Policy?
The Fair Dealing Policy was described on slide 15 of the presentation.
Figure 1: RRU Fair Dealing Policy (Wrobel, 2016)
Prior to Melanie Wrobel’s presentation, I really have not explored the use of copyright. Her presentation was very informative and helped me to understand the copyright process more.
References:
Copyright. (2018). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copyright
Wrobel, M. (2016, June 13). A Guide to Copyright [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=245370