Carrie on Copyright: The Berne Ultimatum

We're a private independent school in Austria. We have students from 58 countries and teachers from about a dozen nations. Plus, our library contains materials that come from several different countries. Under whose copyright law does that put us?

—Terri Rolfe, secondary school librarian
American International School, Vienna, Austria

The United States has bilateral treaty arrangements with Austria, and both countries are parties to the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property (also known as the Berne Convention). These treaties say that if works by a United States author are used in Austria, that nation will afford the same rights to a U.S. author as it would to one of its own citizens. Conversely, when we use foreign works in our country, if the other nation has signed the Berne Convention (or another international copyright treaty), we promise to give its authors the same rights we would offer our own authors. The Berne agreement includes copyright exemptions that are similar to ours, although fair use is unique to the U.S. You can check the U.S. Copyright Office Circular 38a, “International Copyright Relations of the United States,” for a list of countries who are members of Berne. Bottom line: you should follow Austria's copyright law for whatever foreign works you are using if Austria has agreed to the terms of the Berne Convention.

According to our district's policy, students' multimedia presentations can contain up to 30 seconds of commercial music. But kids often ask us, “Are we allowed to play the same 30-second snippet more than once during our presentations?” What should we tell them? Also, do these practices violate copyright law?

The copyright law doesn't indicate precisely how much of a commercial recording can be used in student projects. To determine whether the use is appropriate, we need to consider the four fair-use factors (Section 107). Assuming the music has been lawfully acquired and the presentation is part of a class assignment and no one outside the school can access the project, I think it's fair for students to use 30 seconds (or perhaps even more) of a recording. Furthermore, since the use occurs in a nonprofit, educational context and only a small portion of the recording is used, there's no effect on the work's market. Also, it's fine to play the same music throughout the presentation, since that doesn't appear to have a negative effect on a recording's sales.

Some librarians may fear that students (and even teachers) will abuse this privilege because the copyright law doesn't specify the exact amount of music that can be played in a presentation. But as long as the students' presentations are available only in class, there shouldn't be a problem. Always remind students that commercial recordings are protected by copyright—and any use of the music beyond the classroom could be a copyright infringement.

Our library's Web site has a poetry portal that features published poems. Is that OK?

I'm assuming that your poetry portal is publicly accessible, and that it includes a number of full-length poems, some of which are protected by copyright. If that's the case, we can't really argue that your use is strictly for nonprofit, educational purposes—since the portal isn't part of an actual school or class. If you want to continue to use published poems, I suggest that you seek permission from their rights' holders. Some poets may appreciate the exposure on your portal, while others may object. Of course, you can continue to post poems that are in the public domain. As for poems written by your students—you should also get their permission before posting their works—they're protected by copyright.