Copyright Laws

                  Before the presentation last class, I had no idea how uninformed I was about copyright infringement. I learned an assortment of details about copyright that I believe every citizen of the United States needs to be aware of. For example, Copyright laws in the U.S. date back to 1790, which precedes the Bill of Rights (1791).  These laws basically state that we, as citizens, cannot reproduce or copy another person’s intellectual property without having proper permission and giving credit where it is due (either monetarily or through citation).  There are, however, some materials referred to as ‘Public Domain’ that can be used without requesting copyright permission.

                  One prominent issue with copyright infringement has to do with the use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes.  Some reproduction of copyrighted materials can be used for educational purposes under the term “fair use.” However, this does not include all material that teachers may need or want to use for educational purposes. For this reason, copyright laws hinder some teachers and/or professors. Usually, these hindrances are due to their inability to reimburse a publisher monetarily.

                  I believe that authors should have control over their ‘intellectual property’ and therefore copyright laws should definitely exist and be enforced. However, I believe that in cases of education the law should be more lenient and have more exceptions.  Education, I believe, the most important use of any type of material. Therefore, I think that if certain copyright laws are hindering teachers from teaching their students then “fair use” for educational purposes should be expanded.  

Thank you,
Erin Camp
ecamp@trinity.edu