This study reports findings from a year-long pilot study during which 991 students in 9 core courses in the Virginia State University School of Business replaced traditional textbooks with openly licensed books and other digital content. The university made a deliberate decision to use open textbooks that were copyrighted under the Creative…

Plagiarism has become the new piracy. Just as piracy was a few years ago, plagiarism has become the hot, new crime du jour--an act that suggests immorality and often scandal at once. What's more, plagiarism allegations feed into the society's "Candid Camera" mentality--the seemingly insatiable need to uncover wrongdoing. One of the biggest…

This article reports on an annual copyright license for colleges created by the Copyright Clearance Center, a nonprofit group that manages licenses for the reuse of published material, that will allow institutions to pay a blanket fee to use copyrighted material instead of securing the rights to such content on a case-by-case basis. The blanket…

Intended for those members of the higher education community who write and publish (and that includes both students who write research papers, faculty who produce scholarly articles, copy centers, and college stores), this easy-to-understand guide explains the requirements of United States copyright law. The guide, in question and answer format,…

The University of Maryland, College Park recognized in the 1990s that its institutional data was an asset that needed to be managed. In this Information Age, data must be turned into knowledge quickly and accurately. The University of Maryland implemented a campus data warehouse, and along with it a comprehensive meta data platform for helping…

Educators today have access to technologies that provide both new information sources and new methods of copying, adapting, and transporting information into the classroom. The purpose of this article is to help educators properly interpret and apply copyright law to the use of video as an instructional tool. (38 footnotes) (MLF)

Discusses current copyright issues, including the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners; Fair Use Guidelines for Electronic Reserve Systems; additions to the "United States Code" regarding copyright; copyright ownership for freelance writers; online material, including e-mail; and public performance versus…

Discusses media directors' knowledge of copyright law at higher education institutions. The results of two surveys about copyright are presented showing that only 10-15% of media directors could reach a 75% competency level of the law. Some guidelines for correcting this situation are presented. (JLB)

Discusses the issues involved in reforming the copyright law and redefining fair use as it applies to electronic documents. Highlights include access to and privileges of the Internet, technological development, the evolution of copyright, licenses and fees, the position of publishers and academics, costs, and conditions for creating a stable…

Bruce A. Lehman, chair of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, discusses three issues related to the Copyright Act that will affect Internet transmissions: whether transmissions are performances or deliveries of copies; the scope of fair use; and whether there should be a copyright system in the electronic age. (JKP)

Discusses legal issues involved in developing and distributing multimedia publications. Examines libel; rights of publicity; and such elements of copyright law as copyright protections and infringements, fair use and public domain policies, and use of ideas and factual materials. Uses a hypothetical multimedia project to illustrate the legal rules…

Discusses the copyright implications of adding tables of contents and book indexes to online catalogs and examines the differing interpretations of fair use in for-profit and nonprofit institutions. (EA)

Explains to teachers and parish ministers the provisions of the "fair-use" copyright law of 1978, summarizing guidelines for copying books and periodicals, the educational use of music, and videotaping program and speakers. (AC)

Reports results of a survey of Association for Business Communication members regarding specific instances of classroom multimedia use with copyright issues. Finds that respondents received an average grade of "C," with most answering conservatively, assuming that copyright restrictions were more restrictive than they in fact are.…

Highlights key aspects of and issues related to the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998," a bill passed by the U.S. Senate on May 14, 1998. Discussion includes banning of black boxes (i.e., technological-protection measures such as tv signal scramblers), fair-use protection, identification of copyrighted works, protection for…