OER, Fair Use, and Fair Practice Part II: Defining Copyright and Creative Commons

In an earlier post, I shared the story of trying to add a photo to a canvas I wanted printed and the refusal of a big box store to do so, even though I was printing the piece for personal, not commercial purposes. Some background to this discussion involves defining copyright, and then moving to other key terms such as Creative Commons licensing and then back again to Fair Use. The two below are licensed presentations by Common Craft a creator of some great explanatory videos:

       

   

While copyright and trademark were established to protect the right to make one’s living by products created, Creative Commons gives creators such as academics the rights to share their products with others, while retaining credit for their contributions.

Stay tuned for more posts on Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use issues and practices.