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.