Carrie on Copyright: Bet Your Bottom Dollar

Is it OK for my language arts students to listen to an audiobook from the public library?

Absolutely! If you work in a nonprofit educational institution, audiobooks, CDs, art slides, and videos may be used in the “face-to-face classroom” without prior authorization from the copyright holder (Section 110 [1]). The only caveat is that if the work is an audiovisual work or a movie, it must be “lawfully acquired.” Frankly, it seems a little weird to include that stipulation (after all, shouldn’t all commercial works be lawfully acquired?). My guess is that the movie industry asked Congress to include that phrase in the copyright law because it’s so easy to buy pirated films.

Our students will be performing the musical Annie. We’d like to include some vintage Annie cartoons in our printed programs. Would that violate the copyright law?

Maybe. If Annie cartoons are in the public domain (which means they were published in the U.S. before 1923), you needn’t worry. On the other hand, if they aren’t, check to see if Annie’s script provides any clues. Scripts often include their own “terms of use” license and specify what may be used for publicity purposes. Back in the day, when my grade school performed Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we weren’t allowed to use the dwarfs’ names in our publicity materials. (For the record, I played the role of Dopey, who went, of course, unnamed.)

If those options don’t pan out, your other recourse is to do a fair-use analysis. Is it fair to reproduce Annie cartoons in your programs? Even though your students are performing the musical, the school will probably charge admission. So fair use’s first factor—the purpose of the use—is not in your favor. (By the way, even if you don’t charge admission, factor one still weighs against you, because the activity isn’t part of your curriculum.) What’s the nature of the work (factor two)? Since comics are very creative (rather than factual, like a journal article), they’re afforded heavy copyright protection. One could argue that it might be fine to use only a small portion of a comic strip. However, since it’s necessary to read the entire comic strip to get the joke, it’s unlikely you’ll want to use a single, isolated panel. So the amount of use (factor three), also goes against you. Finally, there’s the effect of your use on the work’s market (factor four). Since you’ll probably charge admission, a copyright holder can argue that you’re getting a “free ride”—you didn’t create the work, and you’re making money on it. Although it’s unlikely that your use would send Annie’s copyright holders spiraling into bankruptcy, using the still popular and profitable comic strip without their permission would be a copyright infringement.

Can a teacher make individual copies of a book on CD for each of her struggling students? She plans to destroy the copies after they’ve been used.

Making copies of a CD for each student—even for those who are struggling—is a copyright violation. Obviously, that action would have a negative effect on the work’s sales: instead of buying one CD for every student, only one CD would be purchased. I’m not sure where the notion originated that if you destroy a copy after it’s used, then it’s not a copyright infringement. But that’s simply not true.

How about considering one of the following alternatives? Purchase a few copies of the CD and place them on reserve in the library. That way, struggling students can have access to them. There are also free public-domain books that you can download and copy. For a list of some good resources, visit the Online Books Page (onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/archives.html). Another place to check is Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org), a nonprofit organization whose ccLearn program is dedicated to open learning and open access to educational materials, including textbooks.