News and Advice on copyright issues for librarians and educators from School Library Journal. en-us http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/community/Copyright/47058.html?nid=3247 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/info/260304.html Terms of Use. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:08:33 MST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699100.html?nid=3247 Is it legal to copy a DVD onto my school district’s server? As general counsel for a company that publishes and distributes educational videos and sells video-on-demand servers that digitally deliver them to the classroom, I get that question from educators all the time. And the answer is: it depends. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699097.html?nid=3247 We’ve been brainstorming about how to use Flip cameras in our library. One idea we came up with was to use them to make 30-second videos with well-known action figures, like Bella and Edward from the “Twilight” series. Would that be a copyright infringement? Also, we’d like to post the videos on our Web site. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673581.html?nid=3247 The American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) decision to require permission—and potentially a fee—to commercially use its Standards for the 21st-Century Learner (bit.ly/lWd9B) has generated ire among its members. “At first I was annoyed, but now getting mad,” posted librarian Beth Frise on Twitter. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673569.html?nid=3247 Of the many debates that raged during last month’s American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago (a fantastically successful gathering by any measure) none were as virulent as those surrounding the use of the new Standards for the 21st-Century Learner (see “Sticky Standards,” p. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673566.html?nid=3247 As part of a program for young people, we’d like to adapt a children’s book for Readers’ Theater. The resulting script will be presented in a school or public library. I’ve come across a lot of helpful tips on how to transform a book into script, but I haven’t found anything on copyright issues. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673069.html?nid=3247 Will The Hobbit (Houghton, 1938) make it to the big screen? Not if the heirs of J.R.R Tolkien have it their way. Tolkien’s estate has filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Los Angeles that may block film production of the fantasy novel. Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666285.html?nid=3247 Harry Potter’s being dragged into court again, this time by the estate of Adrian Jacobs, a British children’s book author who died in 1997. His family is suing J. K. Rowling’s British publisher Bloomsbury for plagiarism. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666079.html?nid=3247 Holden Caulfield’s return to the printed page was temporarily stayed yesterday when a federal judge issued a restraining order halting publication of a book meant to bring J.D. Salinger’s protagonist back to life. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:45:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6660868.html?nid=3247 I just discovered that individual episodes of educational television series, like Schoolhouse Rock!, can be purchased from iTunes. Is it legal to show them in the classroom? —Maxine R. Weisz, librarian/district library coordinator Pilgrim Park Middle School, Brookfield, WI Probably not. When you signed up for iTunes and clicked “I accept,” you most likely agreed to limit your... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6660952.html?nid=3247 Why would the creators of the popular goth girl character Emily the Strange sue the authors of a book from the 1970s featuring a girl who looks very similar to Emily? Wed, 27 May 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6655638.html?nid=3247 A recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling has upheld a 2008 lower court’s findings that the plagiarism prevention site Turnitin.com doesn’t violate student’s intellectual property rights. Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:43:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6647709.html?nid=3247 Several teachers want to make podcasts of some of the poems and short stories in one of our textbooks. They plan to post the audio files online for students to access. I looked at the TEACH Act, but the wording is confusing. Can you please let me know if their plan is legit? —Randall Krichbaum, librarian Vermilion (OH) High School The TEACH Act (Section 110[2]) says that educators who wo... Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6640112.html?nid=3247 Copyright. Plagiarism. Fair Use. They’re all important issues in the classroom. But do you and your students really understand their true meaning? Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:05:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6632966.html?nid=3247 Since we don’t have enough textbooks for every student, our principal says it’s fine to scan one of the books (or at least the seven or so chapters that we plan to use) and post the material on our school’s Web site or email it to the 85 percent of our students who have online access. Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6623784.html?nid=3247 Looks like a print version of The Harry Potter Lexicon may see the light of day after all—albeit a different version than the one originally intended for publication. Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:07:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6617673.html?nid=3247 Do you often question whether it's OK to include portions of a book, film, or song in your classroom lesson? What about whether YouTube can be used as a teaching tool? Hopefully, librarians will have a clearer understanding of copyright law with the new guide “The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6617657.html?nid=3247 One of our history teachers purchased a book he’d like to share with his students. How much of the text is he allowed to copy? Also, if he copies a library book (as opposed to his own book), does that affect the amount of text he can reproduce? —Rich Luttenberger, educational media specialist Morris Knolls High School, Rockaway, NJ Congress included a few examples of fair use in Se... Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600699.html?nid=3247 Steve Vander Ark won't be publishing The Harry Potter Lexicon after all. U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson has ruled in favor of author J. K. Rowling, who sued Vander Ark last November to stop publication of his book. The print version of The Harry Potter Lexicon would have been drawn verbatim from the material on Vander Ark's Web site, one of the most comprehensive encyclopedic listings of... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600680.html?nid=3247 We’d like to display our DVDs—just the cases, not the contents. Can we make copies of the original covers (which have the bar codes) to circulate along with the actual discs? —Susan Clayton, assistant county librarian Lake County Library, Lakeport, CA Yes, it’s fine to make copies of the covers. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6582314.html?nid=3247 After we took our 11th and 12th graders to see the movie Juno, one of our teachers posted a link to the film’s script. Since the screenplay is for sale online and at bookstores, is that OK? When I told him that downloading the entire script for free might be a problem, he replied, “It’s a gray area—it’s alright. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST