The following lesson is a combination of work I created when I taught “Copyright Issues” to my Full Sail University masters student (2008-2014) and my middle school students in Las Vegas (2020-2022). The general format of the lesson is what I used when presenting the material using Full Sail’s online Learning Management platform. Enjoy

:: Pre-Session Videos & Information::

Please make sure to preview the following videos and read through the information listed below before our session together

::Copyright Basics::

Definition of Copyright:

  • Permanently fixed work that can be seen or heard
  • Only copyright owner can use the work

What can be Copyrighted:

  • books
  • plays
  • films/movies
  • dance
  • music

Copyright Duration

  • lifetime + 70 years – company 100 years

10 Myths About Copyright Explained by Brad Templeton

  1. “If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted.”
  2. “If I don’t charge for it, it’s not a violation.”
  3. “If it’s posted to Usenet it’s in the public domain.”
  4. “My posting was just fair use!”
  5. “If you don’t defend your copyright you lose it.”
  6. “If I make up my own stories, but base them on another work, my new work belongs to me.”
  7. “They can’t get me, defendants in court have powerful rights!”
  8. “Oh, so copyright violation isn’t a crime or anything?”
  9. “It doesn’t hurt anybody — in fact it’s free advertising.”
  10. “They e-mailed me a copy, so I can post it.”
  11. “So I can’t ever reproduce anything?”

Please go to Templeton’s site and review his essay and comments. We will be discussing his comments during our online session.

Class Presentation: Introduction

Today we will be studying Intellectual Property. Our study will begin with the exploration of Copyright law. Next week we will look at the principle of Fair Use. The following week we will look at Creative Commons.

Anyone interested in Media or having a career in Media needs to have a good working understanding of these subjects. Making a mistake in this area can cost you a lot of money and your career in Media. We will be watch several videos, but please pay careful attention, there will a quiz on this information.

caveman typist: An army of highly educated lawyers make their full-time occupation working on Copyright issues... so it is an ocean of grey. We will focus on the bits of black and white and go from there.

::Video Lesson::

Here is a kid-oriented video explaining the importance of Copyright:

Here is a video I made several years ago that talks about what can be copyrights & 10 myths about copyright:

::Quiz/Assessment::

This multiple-choice quiz covers material from the the past two weeks of instruction and activities. There are 2 attempts on this quiz. Your highest score will be entered into the gradebook.

::Optional Video::

This optional last video, Good Copy/Bad Copy, is a one-hour documentary on the controversy around issues of copyright and new media. Warning: This video contains “adult language” and disturbing images.

::Sources::

Click Here to Return to Copyright Issues

Click Here to Return to Joe Bustillos’ Teaching Portfolio

Click Here to Return to Joe Bustillos’ Resume

Creative Commons License

JoeBustillos.com (website) by Joseph Bruce Bustillos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License