Plug InsA Student’s Guide to Information Literacy
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT & FAIR USE
What is INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?
First, let’s think about the
meaning of the word property. Property is
something you own. It has value. You can sell it for
money.
An example of property is a house. Or, land, jewelry,
a car.
No. Property can also
be something “non-tangible” or
untouchable.
But, is property only something you can see or
touch?
An example of a non-tangible property is a
design for a new kind of car, one that uses solar power instead of petrol.
We mean not the physical car but the IDEA of the car. The designer owns the
IDEA of the car.
We call this INTELLECTUCAL PROPERTY. The
owner can sell the idea to a company that makes cars.
Another kind of INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY is the written word, scientific writing
or creative fiction.
Authors make their living and support
their families by their writing. Authors can sell their words to a
publishing company.
Authors’ words are considered their property and are protected by laws called COPYRIGHT.
COPYRIGHT protects authors from “piracy” or someone stealing their words and
making money that should go to the author or the
author’s family.
If there were no COPYRIGHT, there
would be no financial reason for authors to
write anything.
Many “valuable” ideas would never be
explored because authors would have to
make a living doing something else.
But, the time period of a COPYRIGHT is not forever. After a number of years,
COPYRIGHT expires.
Also, there are some exceptions to 100%
COPYRIGHT. Not ALL copying or
reproduction is prohibited.
After COPYRIGHT expires, a work is said to be in the
“public domain” and anybody can print the words and sell
them.
Students and others can use words and ideas
from a work. But, there are some rules about
this.
If you use the exact words from a book or
other source, you must put quotation marks
around them and make a Reference List
We will learn more about how to do this in the Plug In lessons on In-text
Citations and Making a
Reference List.
You can also use an author’s idea but
not exact words. We call this
paraphrasing.
We will learn more about this in the Plug In lesson
on Paraphrasing.
For the public benefit, some physical copying of a written work is permitted.
We call this FAIR USE.
Fair Use is sometimes complicated and can vary from country to
country. Citation and referencing are always required.
Let’s look at 4 aspects to determine FAIR USE.
The 1st aspect of FAIR USE deals
with the purpose of the use.
If the purpose is educational, not
commercial to make money, then the use is usually considered fair.
The 2nd aspect of FAIR USE has to do
with the nature of the copyrighted work.
If the work states scientific facts, then use
of the facts is usually considered fair.
The 3rd aspect of FAIR USE has to do with the amount
of the original you want to use.
If the amount is a small percentage of the whole,
then the use is considered fair.
The 4th aspect of FAIR USE has to do with the way a use
will affect the market value of the
original.
If a use has little or no effect on the
market value, then the use is usually considered
fair.
For more information about COPYRIGHT
and FAIR USE in the United Arab
Emirates, see this website.
http://www.zu.ac.ae/library/html/UAEInfo/documents/UAECopyright.pdf
To review :
What someone writes is his or her property just like a
house or a car. We call this INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
COPYRIGHT protects an author’s work from being “stolen” or used to make
money without their permission.
FAIR USE allows a work to be used
for the public good. It has 4
aspects.
1. Purpose of the use2. Nature of the original work3. Amount of the original to be used4. How the use affects the market value of
the original
I hope this helps you understand the
concepts of INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT & FAIR USE.
Ask your teacher or your friendly librarian if
you have any questions.
Thank you for listening.