Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright status is only granted to well-known authors and filmmakers.

• False

• True

Answer explanation

Copyright is granted to anyone who records an original creative work in a fixed, tangible form.

Sam buys a new band’s CD but decides he doesn’t like the singer, so he resells the CD on eBay. That’s legal.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Reselling a CD that you bought is legal according to the First Sale Doctrine.

Amy tells Daniel about her summer vacation, and he says he'd love to see her pictures. Amy uses a file-sharing program to upload the photographs she took at camp so he can download them. That's copyright infringement.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Sharing your own original work is legal. Amy owns the copyright.

Amy tells Daniel that the files are available. Daniel uses the same file-sharing program to download ALL of Amy’s camp pictures. That’s copyright infringement.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Amy owns the copyright and has given Daniel permission to download her photos.

Jason copies the entire last chapter from the final Harry Potter book to his commercial blog without any additional commentary. Since he only used part of the work, Jason would be protected by Fair Use.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

False. Given the amount and significance of the portion Jason has taken, the commercial benefit he would receive, and the likely harm to the market for the Harry Potter book, a court probably not call this fair use and Jason could get into legal trouble.

Kathy downloaded a few photos of local organic farms from a Creative Commons (CC) pool. She follows the rules of the photographer's specific CC license and uses them in her digital video about sustainable agriculture. That's OK.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

True. Kathy can legally use the photos as long as she follows the rules of the license.

Dwight finds a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that offers free music downloads. He owns all but one of his favorite band's CDs, and he finds that particular CD on the network. He's too cheap to buy it, so he downloads the songs. He's not committing piracy.

• False

• True

Answer explanation

False. Unless Dwight has permission from the copyright holders (band/publisher/songwriter), it would be piracy.

Paula read an interesting article about the making of the film Titanic and wants to use a short quote in her movie review for English class, giving credit to the author. That’s plagiarism.

• Ture

• False

Answer explanation

False. Since she’s using a short quote for the purpose of education/commentary it would be Fair Use.

Adam doesn’t need too ask permission before he uses a few  photos and video clips he found on the NASA website last week for a YouTube video about the Total Solar Eclipse. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

True. Creative works produced by the U.S. government are in the Public Domain. You don’t need permission to use them. 

Since Richard forgot to officially copyright his new movie script before he sent it out to a few editors to review, he lost the copyright to it and now anyone can steal it.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

False. Copyright protection is automatic once your original work is in a fixed, tangible form.