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EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

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Copyright and Digital Media

Digitization has made an immense amount of knowledge and cultural heritage available to everyone, but how does this affect copyright protection?

There are many resources on the Internet. In the blink of an eye, any of us can search the digital content available online and find hundreds if not thousands of images, articles, and videos on almost any topic. There seems to be an abundance of digital media that any author can use in their work. However, we must think carefully about what content we can and what we should not use. If we use everything we find on the Internet without regard for copyright, it may be illegal in some cases and violate copyright and other related laws. To understand what we mean by copyright, we must first define what constitutes a copyrighted work.

autorksa pava

Source: Freepik

What is Copyright?

Although a lot of content is accessible to everyone thanks to the Internet, there is no international copyright law. Each country has its own copyright laws that apply both to its citizens and to the use of foreign content when it is used in the country. (1)

According to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights in the Republic of Serbia, any "original intellectual creation of an author, expressed in a certain form, regardless of its artistic, scientific or other value, purpose, scope, content and manner of expression, shall be considered a work of authorship, as well as the permissibility of public communication of its content". Therefore, "any author shall enjoy moral and pecuniary rights with regard to his/her work of authorship from the moment of its creation.“ (2)

Creative Commons Licensing

As mentioned above, there are legal frameworks that apply when using other people's work, i.e. intellectual property rights. However, the use of technological tools and open educational resources means that copyright laws need to be updated to keep up with technology. In response to the discrepancy between copyright and technology, the Open Movement emerged in 2001. At the heart of this movement is the idea that users should be able to determine the rights to their works independently of copyright laws. As part of this movement, Creative Commons defines a new form of licensing that we can grant to our copyrighted works.

"Creative Commons provides free licensing that allows anyone, from individual creators to large institutions, to grant the public permission to use their creative works in a standardized way consistent with copyright law." (3)

In other words, this type of licensing provides a simple, standardized way to grant others permission to share and use our creative works — on our terms, i.e. according to the license label we highlighted. 

CC licensing

Downloaded from the Creative Commons website

The graphic above depicts the labels as well as the possibility of using someone else's material and work. Pay attention to the symbols. If we assign one of the first five labels (looking from top to bottom), albeit with varying degrees of openness, copyrighted works with these licenses are treated as OERs (Open Educational Resources), whereas the bottom two tags do not allow for sharing, commercialization, or remixing. On the Creative Commons (CC)  website you may find detailed explanations about the freedom or restriction for each of the labels shown in the graphic. This iconic video originally created by Creative Commons Aotearoa from New Zealand in a funny and informative way shows how to use CC licensing.

The story of copyright in the age of digitization is a topic of great importance. Every day, EPALE members share a wide range of resources on the platform. Open access to resources ensures that knowledge is available to everyone, but copyright must be respected to preserve the value of each individual's work.

References:

(1) Introduction to International Copyright Law

(2) The Law on Copyright and Related Rights in the Republic of Serbia

(3) About CC licenses

Likeme (1)

Comments

Although it is permissible to use a variety of materials for teaching purposes, care must be taken from whom and what materials are used. It is good that there are sites where you can find "authorized" use of copyright materials.
Likeme (0)

Veoma poučan tekst. Važno je znati šta može da se podeli i preuzme, a šta ne. Isto tako, navođenjem originalnih izvora čuva se domen intelektualne tvorevine i preventivno deluje u sprečavanju širenja plagijata. Nešto o čemu će se tek diskutovati kako se AI bude više koristila u obrazovanju i kreiranju (novih) sadržaja.

Likeme (1)

Хвала. У праву сте. Ово је тема којој је иначе потребна пуна пажња, а биће у фокусу додатно управо због уплива вештачке интелигенције као, такорећи 'асистента' ауторима. За сада аутор и ко-аутор може бити само човек, али ће бити потребан нови сет алата како бисмо пратили који удео у ауторском делу је 'створила' вештачка интелигенција.

Likeme (1)

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