Copyright and Fair Use

Which aspects of this scenario do you feel are allowable under copyright law? 

Which aspects do you feel would be a violation of copyright law? 

What do you base your decisions on? 

To answer these questions we all should know and understand the concept of "copyright". According to Copyright Clearance Center, " Copyright protection exists from the moment a work is created in a fixed, tangible form of expression. The copyright immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author, or those deriving their rights through the author, can rightfully claim copyright. In the case of works made for hire, the employer—not the writer—is considered the author."

Now, according to U.S Copyright Office, " the distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission." 

Moreover, under the law, the individual or entity that owns the copyright of a work has the following rights:

- Reproduction: Making copies
- Adaptation: Changing a work in some way
- Distribution: Giving the work to others
- Public Performance: Playing/performing a work in front of others
- Public Display:Displaying a work for others to view
- Digital Transmission of Sound Recordings: Capturing audio files on the internet
  and burning CDs/file sharing

According to the scenario, I am a teacher and I am showing in my class images from the google image search in class, I am posting the presentation on the password protected-intranet as well as posting the presentation on YouTube and downloading images from the Google image search. Moreover, I show the youtube video to my students, I play rainforest sounds I purchased on iTunes, i read the poem aloud to my students and record the presentation.

What is legal and what is ilegal? I would use in class google images, the mp3 album and the youtube video. There is not problem at all using the song that I dowloaded because I personally bought the record so...now it's mine! Regarding the pictures, if we have doubt about what is legal and what not we can go to websites such as flickr. These kind of webpages do not require a permission. 

Finally, my actions are going to be safe as long as I have a permission from the original creator. We all should know that if we see the copyright symbol anywhere and we want to use that material, we have to ask for permission. If we pick something with copyright and we use it without any allowance...we'll be in trouble.