I attended an online training, “Copyright for Instructional Designers” (scroll down the page) provided by Ana Enriquez on the very complex topic of copyright when it comes to video content, but not limited to just video.
![Poll results to the question, "Which of the following performances would be considered 'public' under U.S. copyright law? Playing a movie in a dorm common area for a group [71%]. Playing a movie in a Libraries space at an event sponsored by a student organization [96%]. Streaming a movie on a Canvas course website (behind authentication) [43%]. Playing a movie during a class session of a... [57%]."](https://sites.psu.edu/kent/files/2020/02/Screen-Shot-2020-02-13-at-1.23.06-PM.png)
My main take-aways:
- Contact Ana (aee32@psu.edu) or Brandy Karl (bak25@psu.edu) with questions
- Do your due diligence to follow the laws while working on a project for PSU, there may be some protections under PSU Policy IP05 but don’t count on it because there is some specific language about “system users”
- There are three sections of Copyright law that we use
- Fair Use (107)
- Classroom use (110-1)
- TEACH Act (110-2)
- We only need to qualify for one of these sections, not all three
- The laws may not and do not make common sense, but that’s not important, what is important is to try and understand how they work – and this is why I am not a lawyer
Brian and I met with Ana yesterday to discuss videos in CYBER 100.
The first question I had was what kind of guidelines can Designers use to determine if a video is infringing copyright? Ana replied that first we should use our “Spidey sense.” She use the example that if we saw the movie like Moana on YouTube, we would probably have some feeling in my gut that that would not be right. In addition to that feeling, we might ask if the hosting platform is reputable, if the account posting the video looks reputable, if the video has been there a while (perhaps more than 6 months), and if it is a movie or TV show how old is it? Is the movie older than perhaps 20 years?
Ana said that linking is almost always OK and in our favor. If we are using links, then Fair Use doesn’t even factor into determining whether we can use the content or not. Fair Use is applied when we download, copy, or re-host content. Fair Use is in the large gap between unauthorized and infringing. Even if we have to apply Fair Use, the first point works to our favor because we are using it for educational purposes and often it is transformative. The second point doesn’t really apply to us. We do have to be mindful of the third point, how much of the content we are using.
Ana also took time to mention that we have to keep in mind that there are variety of reasons why a video might have been removed. Even videos that may look suspicious may actually be approved. For example someone might have uploaded content that belong to someone else but the copyright holder has established monetization of that content. Likewise we can’t make assumptions about why the video has been removed. In a similar example, the monetization decision of a previously legitimate agreement could have been rescinded and then the video gets taken down.
The end, Ana mentioned that liability in situations like this is a little concern of hers. Students losing access to content is the much larger concern.