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Lessons help students understand what's at stake with copyright.

"I wish I could say that teaching students about copyright is easy, because in a world where digital tools are making creating and sharing content easier than ever, understanding copyright is incredibly important. But intellectual property law is exceedingly complex, making even a nominal introduction to the ideas surrounding copyright -- copyright law, fair use, the public domain -- a challenge. "

"Search engines such as Google and popular cloud computing services may have been "sued out of existence" if they started in Australia, while consumers who make remixes or mash-ups of copyright songs and videos are also breaching the law. These are just some of the glaring issues with the Copyright Act that have been raised today by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and copyright experts. The ALRC has released a new issues paper for its inquiry into whether Australia's copyright laws have kept up with the digital age."

Copyright Law explained by The Little Mermaid and Buzz Lightyear (video) Using Disney characters to explain copyright law and related concepts such as public domain and fair use, Bucknell University professor Eric Faden produced this cartoon cut and paste masterpiece, A Fair(y) Use Tale. Poetic justice indeed, considering how Disney has tried slamming the copyright door shut behind itself, having built its own empire on the public domain fairy tales such as those used here.   

"At this very moment, many people in Australia are breaching copyright. They are doing creative things, commonplace things, public interest things, things that are improving our community and culture, and they are breaching copyright, often without even being aware of it."

Independent Schools Victoria - Copyright Guidelines

Useful list to of sites to explore when discovering more about copyright and fair use.

George Couros posts about an inadvertent copyright tale

"Creative Commons (CC) is often seen as a social movement, dismissed by critics as a tool for hobbyists or academics who do not sell their creations to make a living. However, this paper argues that the licensing of creative copyright works under a CC licence does not preclude commercial gain. If used wisely, CC licences can be a useful tool for creators in their quest for commercial success. In particular, this paper argues that the sharing of creative works online under a CC licence allows creators to circumvent traditional distribution channels dominated by content intermediaries, whilest maintaining a level of control over their copyright works (i.e. explicitly reserving some rights but not all rights). This will be illustrated by case studies on how CC is being used by content creators and intermediaries respective". Download PDF

Wondering if that material is protected by copyright? Check out this interactive tool to help you find out

Just when I thought I was getting an understanding of copyright. Interesting article.

"This is a facilitated course that will run for 7 weeks (March 25 - May 12, 2013). Sign-up for this course closed on March 21. Current participants appear in the 'People' tab. If you weren't able to enroll in the course for this cycle, send us a message and we'll be sure you're notified for the next cycle of the course!"

"YouTube recently posted a video and short quiz designed to help young people better understand use of intellectual property relating to reposting and remixing."

The official YouTube Copyright School has a movie and accompanying quiz

This document is a code of best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances-especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations where the law provides no specific authorization for the use in question-as it does for certain narrowly defined classroom activities.

This comes from the Diigo in Education group. Although it is American, it has some useful questions and checklists, quotes and explanations about copyright, ethics and the law to share with students.

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education helps educators gain confidence about their rights to use copyrighted materials in developing students' critical thinking and communication skills.

ISTE SIGMS Webinar

Great resources here. Teaching resources to stimulate classroom discussion. Copyright, Creative Content, Making Movies, Online Piracy & more.