A Guide for Authors, Adapters & Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials

This course provides an introduction to the technology and policy context of public communications networks, through critical discussion of current issues in communications policy and their historical roots. The course focuses on underlying rationales and models for government involvement and the complex dynamics introduced by co-evolving technologies, industry structure, and public policy objectives. Cases drawn from cellular, fixed-line, and Internet applications include evolution of spectrum policy and current proposals for reform; the migration to broadband and implications for universal service policies; and property rights associated with digital content. The course lays a foundation for thesis research in this domain.

Copyright Law: Cases and Materials is a free copyright law textbook designed for a four-credit copyright course, which is what we teach at NYU School of Law. Model syllabi for four-credit and three-credit courses are available in the Faculty Resources section of this website. All faculty teaching copyright law are welcome to access the Faculty Resources, including the faculty discussion forum, by becoming a registered user of the site. To register, write us at jeanne.fromer@nyu.edu or christopher.sprigman@nyu.edu.

The textbook is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Under the terms of this license, you are free to copy and redistribute the textbook in part or whole in any format provided that (1) you do so only for non-commercial purposes, and (2) you comply with the attribution principles of the license (credit the authors, and link to the license). Note please that this license does not permit you to make modifications to the textbook or to create derivative works. That said, there are a wide variety of derivatives that we would gladly permit. If you want to make modifications to the textbook, please contact us.

This is a full length monograph aimed at helping libraries, archives, and museums navigate copyright law involving digitization. In the course of the book, though, the authors helpfully unpack many areas of copyright law including Section 108 of the Copyright Act, Fair Use, Licensing, and Risk Management. It is a great primer on copyright law and includes many helpful key points, flowcharts and timelines.

A handout that describes the importance of copying and remix, introduces US copyright allow and the fair use doctrine,  provides examples of important cases that have involved fair use and intellectual copyright, and details current issues surrounding copyright in education.

The editors of Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom bring together stories, theories, and research that can further inform the ways in which we situate and address intellectual property issues in our writing classrooms. The essays in the collection identify and describe a wide range of pedagogical strategies, consider theories, present research, explore approaches, and offer both cautionary tales and local and contextual successes that can further inform the ways in which we situate and address intellectual property issues in our teaching.

This course considers the interaction between law, policy, and technology as they relate to the evolving controversies over control of the Internet. In addition, there will be an in-depth treatment of privacy and the notion of "transparency" -- regulations and technologies that govern the use of information, as well as access to information. Topics explored will include: Legal Background for Regulation of the Internet Fourth Amendment Law and Electronic Surveillance Profiling, Data Mining, and the U.S. PATRIOT Act Technologies for Anonymity and Transparency, The Policy-Aware Web

Extended Readings on Copyright is subject to a non-commercial Create Commons license that allows you to add, subtract, and amend as you see fit, provided you extend those terms to any derivative work based on these materials and provided your provide appropriate attribution. I encourage you to share your edits and additions with me, but it is not obligatory.Extended Readings on Copyright can be used as a stand alone textbook on United States copyright law. The individual chapters are available on this website, and these can be used to supplement other materials. Individual chapters are likely to be more up to date than the consolidated build of the book.

Brief video describing where and how to find Open Educational Resources, including specific repositories and licences to look for.

An Overview of fair use when using preexisting media in new content creation.

Introduction to the sources of technological innovation, economics of innovation, protection of innovation rights, communication of technical information, capturing benefit from innovation, organizing to manage the innovation process, cooperation in the innovation process, new ventures. 15.351 is a full-term subject with greater detail on technology strategy and on product development and implementation. 15.352 is a half-term subject. Students cannot receive credit for both subjects.

The nonprofit organization Creative Commons provides the following definition of open educational resources (OER):

“Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities.”

In Texas, Senate Bill 810 (SB 810), which was signed into law in June 2017, further defines OER as follows:

“‘Open educational resource’ means a teaching, learning, or research resource that is in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use, adaptation, and redistribution of the resource by any person. The term may include full course curricula, course materials, modules, textbooks, media, assessments, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques, whether digital or otherwise, used to support access to knowledge.”

The key distinguishing factor of this type of educational resource is the copyright status of the material. If course content is under a traditional, all-rights-reserved copyright, then it’s not an OER. If it resides in the public domain or has been licensed for adaptation and distribution, then it is an OER.

Did you realize these course modules are an OER? Do you want to reuse the content, modify it for your students or colleagues? Guess what … you can, with attribution of course!

You’ll learn more about reusing open content and explicit open license permissions, such as attribution, in Module 7. However, understanding what makes it possible for you to reuse, modify, and reshare this work is the first step. These activities are legal because when it was created the author released it with an open license. When discussing open licensing it also is necessary to review definitions of important terms and legal requirements of laws and principles applied to a creator’s work and how it can be used or reused. In addition to introducing and defining open licenses, this module will review and define copyright, fair use, and public domain.

Introductory examination of the US law of intellectual property, with emphasis on patents and copyrights, and a brief look at trademarks and trade secrets. Comparisons made with regard to what can and cannot be protected, what rights the owner does and does not obtain, and how these rights come into being. Issues relating particularly to new information technologies highlighted. Assignments include case and statutory readings, written preparatory exercises, and student case presentations.

This guide provides a primer on copyright and use permissions. It is intended to support teachers, librarians, curriculum experts and others in identifying the terms of use for digital resources, so that the resources may be appropriately (and legally) used as part of lessons and instruction. The guide also helps educators and curriculum experts in approaching the task of securing permission to use copyrighted materials in their classrooms, collections, libraries or elsewhere in new ways and with fewer restrictions than fair use potentially offers. The guide was created as part of ISKME's Primary Source Project, and is the result of collaboration with copyright holders, intellectual property experts, and educators.* "Copyright license choice" by opensource.com is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

This module was created in response to an observed need by BranchED and the module authors for efforts to increase the recognition, adaptation, and use of open educational resources (OER) among pre- and in-service teachers and the faculty who work in educator preparation programs. The module's purpose is to position teacher educators, teacher candidates and in-service teachers as empowered content creators. By explicitly teaching educators about content that has been licensed for re-use and informing them about their range of options for making their own works available to others, they will gain agency and can make inclusive and equity-minded decisions about curriculum content. The module provides instructional materials, resources, and activities about copyright, fair use, public domain, OER, and visual literacy to provide users with a framework for selecting, modifying, and developing curriculum materials.

This Intellectual Property Supplement from eLangdell Press contains the text of federal laws and regulations in the area of copyright, trademarks and patents. The editors have endeavored to gather all relevant laws, rules and regulations. This collection is intended to be used primarily as a statutory supplement for law students and legal scholars in academic settings, although practitioners in this area of law will also find it useful.This volume, Volume 1: Copyright Statutory Law contains the text of Title 17 of the United States Code as it appears on the most current edition available on the U.S. Government website FDSYS. Updates to the U.S. Code not yet found in the FDSYS published editions can be found in the United States House of Representatives Office of Law Revision Counsel's Classification Tables.

Brief video describing licensing and permissions associated with Open Educational Resources (OER), including various Creative Commons licenses. These licenses give content creators a standardized way to share their resources with other educators around the world.

A brief video where OER experts give their reasons for working in the field of Open Educational Resources. Primary reasons include empowering teachers, equalizing access to education, reducing teachers' worries about copyright, reducing educational costs, and facilitating the open flow of information.