Copyrights and Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property rights and the Internet is not as confusing as it may seem. Many resources are available.
Links
Sources
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html http://www.classroom.com/community/connection/howto/citeresources.jhtml
Policy
http://www.bham.wednet.edu/technology/copyrule.htmIntellectual property rights in the domain of telecommunications is an issue very much in the early evolutionary stage. It arises most frequently if you or your students conduct research, incorporate another's document (of any type) or publish on the Web.
Acceptable formats for citing Internet references in a bibliography are explained in Principles of APA Style and especially for educators at Classroom.com.
The world's clearinghouse on intellectual property rights, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is located in Switzerland. The U.S. Copyright Office has information on copyrights and fair use for the United States.
A Classroom Guide to Copyright, from the University of South Florida, provides a simple explanation of copyrights and how to deal with the issues brought on by the World Wide Web.
Thinkquest has Art Rights and Wrongs, a graphically appealing, accurate and comprehensive site about the arts and copyrights geared for students. It's great!
Bellingham Schools can be used as a model for a Copyright and Web Publishing policy. The site includes a sample form to be filled out by the copyright holder.
The Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center covers this issue in-depth, including fair use, what's public domain, and resources for librarians.
For a crash course in copyright study the University of Texas site.
Creative Commons defines the spectum of licensing possibilities between full copyright and the public domain.
Annotation
Learning about copyrights and proper citation rules is a requisite skill for your students regardless of the media.
