1. The internet is fair game.
False. Copyright laws still apply.
2. No © symbol = no copyright.
False.
3. Use in teaching = fair use.
False. Fair use requires a case-by-case, individualized determination of each source used.
The purpose of copyright law is to give protection, for a limited time, to authors of original works - both published and unpublished. These works include literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.
The exclusive rights of a copyright owner outlined in the United States Code (title 17) are:
• To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
• To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. One major limitation is the doctrine of “fair use.”