The "Fair Use" Rule and Plagarism

[Kevin O'Beirne]

In discussing the issue of plagarism with my employer’s legal counsel, he furnished me with the following excerpted from "Nolobriefs", which I thought good to pass along to writers and resarchers of historical works and reenactor-related articles.

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2. When Copying Is Okay: The "Fair Use" Rule

Under the fair use rule of copyright law, an author may make limited use of another writer's work without asking permission. The fair use privilege is perhaps the most significant limitation on a copyright owner's exclusive rights.

But how much copying is too much? If you write or publish, you need to know -- find out more here:

Summary of the "Fair Use" Rule

http://referral.nolo.com/nc.cfm?t=NB006200130694

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I hope that's helpful to some folks.

[ScottCross]

Re: The "Fair Use" Rule and Plagarism

Kevin,

Thank you for posting this link. I had to study copyright laws and "Fair use" in both my undergraduate and graduate course in museum studies. This is very important to all of us who publish articles and even "post" on internet forums. Give credit where credit is due.

[Dreamer42]

Re: The "Fair Use" Rule and Plagarism

Here are the notes I have my High School Digital Graphics students take. Some of this deals with digital and published work.

Trade Secrets
·Trade laws provide some protection when it comes to confidential information in the competitive marketplace.

·A trade secrete is a formula, idea, process or device that provides a business with some advantage over competitors, and has been treated by the owning company in such a way as to prevent others from learning the information.

Patent
·If an idea is worth developing into a marketable product it may qualify for protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

·There are three different types of patents:
oUtility patent – creating a product, machine, object, composition
oDesign patent – covers the appearance of an object, such as a new physical appearance of a design
oPlant patent – (least common) protects a new, unique method of accomplishing a manufacturing process

Trademark
·A trademark is a word, phrase, logo, Internet domain name, symbol or slogan that identifies the owner of the trademark.

Service Mark
·A service Mark is essentially the same as a trademark, but is issued when a logo or slogan relates to a service instead of a product.

Trade Dress
·Trade dress is appropriate if the physical appearance of a package becomes
part of the product itself.

Understanding “Fair Use”
oIn some cases limited amounts of information may be used without asking permission.
These fall under the following criteria:
oYou may quote passages from another person’s work for the purpose of comment or criticism.
oYou may quote short passages for the purpose of news reporting, or for research or scholarship.
oIn some cases, you can copy limited amounts of information for use in non-profit educational institution.
Public Domain
·Public domain applies to expired copyright. It is information that anyone can Use.

Software, Piracy and Digital Millennium Copyright Act
·These are issues related to copyright and intellectual property. Ironically, the biggest threat to technology copyright is technology itself.
oIt is a crime to circumvent anti-piracy features that are built into software
oProhibits creation, sale, or distribution of code-cracking utilities
oExempts some groups (non-profit & educational institutions) under certain circumstances.
oLimits the liability of Internet service providers.
oRequires service providers to monitor user site content for pirated material and remover any information that violates copyright.

-Jay Reid
Dreamer42