What does "copyright" mean in regard to your own worksheets?

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ESL forum > > What does "copyright" mean in regard to your own worksheets?

What does "copyright" mean in regard to your own worksheets?

David Lisgo

What does "copyright" mean in regard to your own worksheets?

Hello everyone,

most of the time I think these discussions on moderating are useful especially for active moderators who wish to improve their moderating and make this community a better place to be.

No disrespect to the moderator who wrote "there isnt, any rules that prevent other members from using OUR layouts and clip art - Member�s layouts are not copyrighted. it should not be removed..." (I have omitted the name of the moderator), but I am not in agreement, though I could be in error. The rules state

The printables included in this website are property of their authors. When you send us a printable you agree that other people can download and use it.

If someone uses the original layout and/or just moves the clipart around, then it is a breach of copyright, if they create their own layout based on anothers then it is not a breach of copyright, though the curtesy of credit may be due.

I am just a teacher with an opinion I am willing to voice. Do you have an opinion on this topic?

Sincerely,

David Lisgo

11 Jun 2009

Carla Horne

Hi David,

You are right. This is what MLA, the Modern Language Association, says. In truth there should be a lot more citations than what there are on most of the ws. However, sometimes it is hard to determine what is public domain and what isn �t. When in doubt, put a citation or at least a URL from where the idea or picture came from.

I am also criticizing myself for being sloppy in my citations. Perhaps, it is time to forgive and forget, and to start over tomorrow on the right foot.

Carla

11 Jun 2009

dennismychina

Hi David,

You know the saying; �Do unto her who��.� With an attitude like that it would be interesting to see her reactions if one of her works was re-uploaded as the uploaders.

I don�t think that copyrights can work on our site. It is a very intricate and complicated law. And if you read the rule you quoted it says that downloaders can �use� it. But somewhere else the rules say that copied material can�t be uploaded. Having said that, very few of our members are also artists and we must get pics and other material from somewhere. That�s were the free clip art sites come in.

So I agree with you, members have a plethora of free material out there, there should be no need to steal other members work. It �s a matter of self-respect and goes against the grain of the ethos of the site.

Enjoy.

11 Jun 2009

alien boy

According to the Berne Convention, it is possible to assert a copyright on any original (but not necessarily unique) work as soon as it is in a �fixed � form. Essentially the form of the idea canbe copyrighted but not the idea.

Copyright law is their to protect financial interests of the owner of an original form of work... so if your �original work � is not used to generate an income & the person who copied you work has also not generated income from their copy, then you are unlikely to receive any compensation or reparation in monetary terms for their breach of your copyright. Essentially the best you canhope for (if you actually took it to court) would be the removal of the copy fromthis site & a warning issued to the offender... & that �s if a judgement can actually be applied!

The �Fair Use � principle is a defense if someone is sued for breach of copyright. I put a reasonable comment about it in this discussion:

http://www.eslprintables.com/forum/topic.asp?id=8647

To finally get to the point...

A member �s work can be considered copyrighted at the moment of its creation, so the moderator who left that comment is definitely (but not necessarily always) wrong in most cases. If someone derives a worksheet from someone else �s worksheet then they may also be breaching copyright as a derivative work is actually considered to come under the copyright of the original work (to generalise a little). The next question is whether the worksheet based on another �s is �derivative � in a legal sense as distinct from a literal sense.

Personally, I believe that layout in Word would be hard to prove as �copyrighted � material because of the availability of templates & the widespread use of this form of word processing software - it �s somewhat different to using trademarks & formalised logos which really have to be registered in order to be protected... so even a color scheme in Word may not legally be copyrightable (just ask Cadbury about trying to sue someone over using �their � purple!)

I may continue this discussion later on, if I have time!

Cheers,

AB

11 Jun 2009

zailda

I do love your explanations, Alien boy. Teaching is in your blood.

Cheers

Zailda Coirano

11 Jun 2009

David Lisgo

Hi,

Just a quick note on clipart.

99.9% of my own clipart has been legally purchased, at quite a cost, and I am sure many other members also purchase usage licenses for royalty free online clipart and buy clipart collections. I do not think any member has the right to use another members clipart without verifying that it is in the public domain or that they have a legal right to use it, which is probably more trouble than it is worth.

Yes. I live in the real world and I know that I am being idealistic, but this community is full of idealists.

David

11 Jun 2009

alien boy

Actually David, I believe your statement re clipart is the right thing to do. The status of �Fair Use � in Japan is much different to most of the world, but that aside, I believe it is right to pay for something that has been produced by someone else, particularly if you make extensive use of their product! I liken it to going to a restaurant or cafe - if you consume the comestibles surely you should also pay for them?! Surely if any member here were doing something that is their livelihood they would expect to be paid for what they produce?

Open source is a different story (like the uploads here) - those items are intended to be shared & improved by the users. So there is no financial aspect to the use of the items/material/product.

There �s nothing wrong with idealism, especially if you try to practice your ideals Wink

Wink

So don �t stop David!

11 Jun 2009

crazy_turtle

This is a really interesting topic.

Technically, if you work in a private school where students are paying for your services and you are using worksheets with sponge bob or mickey mouse etc. on it then you have to pay them a royalty fee and need explicit permission to use their images. Nearly every WS on here breaks these laws. However, the laws are almost impossible to inforce. Everyone in the world has broken copyright laws at some time in their life. recording songs from the radio, copying a friends cd, making a poster with some character on it etc...

11 Jun 2009

Carla Horne

We should all learn from this experience and either pay or only use public domain clip art and backgrounds. If we feel inspired by another �s ws, we should ask that person �s permissiion to use the format. One can always say no. Again, when in doubt, it better to do a citation or write the URL from which it came.

Let �s have peace again here. I really miss it.

Carla

11 Jun 2009