When I do presentations on Web 2.0 tools and multimedia usage, I always 
jokingly tell people “Copyright violation is illegal. Speeding is illegal. You figure it out.”. Just my way of saying you assume any and all risks if you use copyrighted material. Well, it stopped being funny when the copyright police called on a friend of mine.
I wanted to take a few minutes to go over use of copyrighted material. Had a friend call this recently. Wanted to know about the usability of images on Google. Seems a friend of theirs had Googled some images for use in a presentation. They then proceeded to create an online site and use some of the images from the presentation. The content had been online for several months. Recently, the person got a letter from Getty Images requesting payment of more than $500 as well as a cease and desist using the images. Seems the images being used were copyrighted. And the images were on that person’s server. Double whammy!!
Why am I telling you all this? Well, copyright law is very specific about what you can and can’t use, and when and how you can and can’t use it. For instance, did you know that if you went to an online service like Pandora or Myspace or any other music sharing site and started playing music in your class, you could be in violation of copyright law. There have been reports of schools being involved in litigation with the Mouse company (otherwise known as Disney) for allowing kindergarten students trace images from one of their movies that was projected on a large sheet of paper on a wall.
So what can you do about it? Well, I am not a copyright lawyer, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (now they will sue ME!!) but there are ways to work around copyright issues. It is called Creative Commons Licensing. Basically, it is a non legally binding license that allows the creator of the image, music, video, or intellectual property to allow people to use the content based on certain criteria. Maybe you have to attribute the work to the artist, or you are not allowed to modify the work. But it is yours to use for free. There are music and video sites that allow for use under the same license agreements. In fact, you can create content and share it on the web, or even in hardcopy and license it under Creative Commons licensing agreements.
I know, I know…you are wanting to know how you can find this content, since like me, you really don’t want to go to jail for trying to make your content more visual. Very simply, you CAN continue to use Google to locate multimedia for your presentations. You simply have to go one step further than just googling. Once you have your results, directly beneath the search bar, you will see “Advanced Search”. Click on that link, and you will be taken to a new page containing advanced search options. The one you are concerned with is the one labeled “Usage Rights”. There is a drop down menu contain four options. Just to be safe, I always choose the final option: Labeled for commercial use with modifications. That means I can pretty much do what ever I want with the results of the search.
Then go to the top of the page, and enter the search criteria again, and click search. The results are now listed as Creative Commons licensed for use. Now, under the search box, you should see the words “labeled for commercial reuse with modification”.
Click here to see my example search
If you do not see those words, look at the lower left hand side of the screen. You should see several links to filter by license. Select the one that you want to search for, and try again. You can also go to Creative Commons or Wikimedia and find CC licensed media as well.
Another concern is use of music. Music too, is copyrighted. If you hear it on the radio, you will probably have to pay to use it. Are there other sources of CC licensed music out there? But of course! My favorite site is Jamendo.
Jamendo offers Creative Commons licensed music in various genres. Most of the music is from artists around the world who are looking to get noticed. This is good for us, because we get to use their music for free, mainly just by attributing it back to them. Small price to pay for free! No, you will not find top 10 or top 20 music here. But you will find some top notch stuff to use with presentations, or videos or things of this nature. You can also play it in your classroom during study times if you wish.
Click here to see some of the tunes I listen to on Jamendo.
So those are my thoughts on copyright laws, and where you can find material to use without getting in trouble legally.
