Copyrights and Licenses are part of intellectual property measures that are generally applied by law to protect creative works that have economic value.They are generally of three types:
- Patents: A legal protection granted by the government offering an exclusive right to make, use and sell an invention for a specific period—20 years in many African countries.
- Copyrights: A legal protection granted by the government offering an exclusive privilege to authors to reproduce, distribute, perform, or display their creative works.
- Trademarks: This is a word or symbol used by manufacturers to identify goods.
Intellectual property becomes popular with technology as technology can enhance and or diminish the value of an intellectual property . In considering whether to use a resource or not, teachers need to be aware of the principle of fair use. This principle states that one should not deprive revenue to the creator of a particular intellectual property item and should advance the cause of learning. There are four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use of a copyrighted work is fair: Purpose and character of the use - (non profit educational use vs. commercial purposes) Nature of the copyrighted work Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole Effect of the use upon potential market for value of the work.
Generally, the use of materials for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research are considered fair use. It is important also to consider the purpose, nature, amount and substantiality, and the effect of the use on potential value of work.
Copying copyrighted materials
One can copy materials that have been copyrighted if they are using the materials for their own scholarly research, in teaching, or preparing to teach a class. Multiple copies (one copy per student in a course) can be made if it meets the criteria of brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative effect and if each copy contains a notice of copyright.
