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in the USA, almost everything created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not

The default you should assume for other people's works is that they are copyrighted and may not be copied unless you know otherwise.

Note that granting something to the public domain is a complete abandonment of all rights. You can't make something "PD for non-commercial use." If your work is PD, other people can even modify one byte and put their name on it. You might want to look into Creative Commons style licences if you want to grant wide rights.

The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.

Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.

Copyright subsists for a variety of lengths in different jurisdictions. The length of the term can depend on several factors, including the type of work (e.g. musical composition or novel), whether the work has been published or not, and whether the work was created by an individual or a corporation. In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. In the United States, the term for most existing works is a fixed number of years after the date of creation or publication. In some countries (for example, the United States[44] and the United Kingdom[45]), copyrights expire at the end of the calendar year in question. The length and requirements for copyright duration are subject to change by legislation, and since the early 20th century there have been a number of adjustments made in various countries, which can make determining the duration of a given copyright somewhat difficult. For example, the United States used to require copyrights to be renewed after 28 years to stay in force, and formerly required a copyright notice upon first publication to gain coverage. In Italy and France, there were post-wartime extensions that could increase the term by approximately 6 years in Italy and up to about 14 in France. Many countries have extended the length of their copyright terms (sometimes retroactively). International treaties establish minimum terms for copyrights, but individual countries may enforce longer terms than those.[46]

Briefly review subjects covered in last lesson: plagiarism, proper citation and paraphrasing, honesty and trustworthiness in school research and writing.

“Who owns copyrighted materials such as movies, music, and web pages?” Tell students that the copyright owner is the person who created the work, e.g. author, musician, artist, computer program/game creator, scientist-inventor, business person, etc.

Next ask the class if they are familiar with the Happy Birthday song. Inform them that this song is protected by copyright

the nature of the use, the nature of the work used, the extent of the use, and its economic effect

Did the unlicensed use “transform” the copyrighted material by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, rather than just repeating the work for the same intent and value as the original? • Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use? If the answers to these two questions are “yes,” a court is likely to find a use fair

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, f