Copyright and Intellectual Property Issues in the Digital

EnvironmentAmy Ginther

Project NEThics(sm)

Office of Information Technology

University of Maryland

CyberEthics Seminar for Professional Educators

University of Maryland

July 16-17, 2002

Ethical and Legal Implications of Web Development

• Importance of respecting intellectual property, protecting the incentive to create

• Organizational liability• Familiarity with your organization’s acceptable

use policy (www.umd.edu/aug); other policies

Intellectual Property

• Patents• Trade Secrets• Trade Dress• Trademarks

– Trademarks – ™– Servicemarks – SM– Registered Trademarks - ®

• Copyrights -

Copyright BasicsDefinition:

Property right of authors/creators whenever original expression is fixed into a tangible medium

Registration:Not required since 1978. Pre-requisite before filing lawsuit in federal court under the copyright act.

Notice:Not required since 1978. Useful for communicating intentions.e.g., ©2002 Project NEThics, University of Maryland. Permission to use is granted for non-profit, educational purposes as long as you attribute its source.

The Rights Comprised In The Copyright

• Reproduce (copy) the work;• Prepare “derivative” works;• Distribute the work to the public by sale or other

transfer of ownership• Perform or display the work publicly

Use of Copyrighted Materials

• Risk Analysis, including exposure facilitated by the Web• “Public Domain” – http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm• Obtaining Copyright Permission

(http://www.umd.edu/NEThics/law/copyright/permissions.html)– License - in writing– Implied License

• Statutory Exceptions– library exemptions—“first sale”– “face-to-face instruction”– “distance education”—fair use applies if part of systematic, ongoing

instructional activity involving regularly enrolled students– “fair use”

Fair Use Factors

• Purpose of the useCommercial vs. non-profit educational uses - the law explicitly supports use for teaching, research, and scholarship

• Amount of the work usedAmount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

• Characteristics or nature of the material being usedFair use is more difficult to establish when the work is being used is fictional or at the core of intended copyright protection

• Effect of the use on market value of original workMust take into account not only the harm to the original but also of harm to the market for derivative works

See: http://www.iupui.edu/~copyinfo/fuchecklist.html

Fair Use Guidelines• Guidelines for Reproduction (Photocopying) of

Copyrighted Materials– brief

– spontaneous

– not cumulative

• Guidelines for Multimedia(http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html)

– Use up to two years after first use

– Up to 10% or 3 minutes of motion media; 1000 words of text; 30 seconds of music; no more than 5 images by an artist

Other Legal and Policy Issues For Course Web Pages

• Hyperlinks– Surface vs. Deep Links– Framing– Seeking permission? (http://www.templetons.com/brad/linkright

.html)

• Metatags• Student Contributions to Course Web Sites• Student Images on Web Sites• Rights of Publicity• Privacy policy

Privacy Statement

• SB199: “Privacy Policies and Data Security”• Collection of personal information on official

university websites: umd.edu; maryland.edu• Link to http://www.umd.edu/privacy

Privacy Notice Requirement

If you are collecting personal information, you should provide notice of the following:

• The purpose for which the personal information is collected;

• Any specific consequences for refusing to provide the information;

• Your right to inspect, amend, or correct personal records, if any;

• Whether the personal information is generally available for public inspection; and

• Whether the personal information is made available or transferred to or shared with any entity.

Encounters with Infringement

• A university in another country copies look and feel of University of Maryland home page

• Criticism of company with trademarked images of company on website

• Student uses images from site on personal page about cruise trip

• Limited license yet software accessible on www

For more information, contact:

Project NEThics(sm)Office of Information Technology

University of Maryland

http://www.umd.edu/NEThics

E-mail: NEThics@umail.umd.edu

Phone: 301.405.8787