EDU 776/LIS 724 Week 5 Copyright and Fair Use


                                Image Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital


 Peter Pan isn't necessarily the first thing someone thinks of when considering copyright and fair use, but the book is an excellent example of copyright use.  Author J.M. Barrie gifted the rights to the book Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is a children's hospital in England, in 1929.  Royalties from the book helped to fund the hospital and its work.  In the UK, the copyright expired 1987, but British Parliament passed a law stating that all royalties from any production or publishing of Peter Pan, be it the book, play, audio recording, etc. would go to the hospital for eternity.  This is quite a unique situation since in most circumstances there are time limits on copyrights.

While in the UK, the Great Ormond Street Hospital, has the copyright for all versions of Peter Pan, in the US this is not the case.  The book is now public domain, and the play will become public domain in December of this year.  Disney, of course, has copyright of all its Peter Pan-related movies.

This example shows how complicated copyrights can be.  Copyrights vary from country to country.  Public domain also varies from country to country and is based on the number of years material is copyright protected.  Once that copyright runs out, the material is open to public use. Including the idea of fair use even increases the complexities.   Fair use is an important concept to understand because it allows educators and non-profits a certain amount of flexibility when using copyrighted material.



                                                            Image source: Creator


Fair use can be a little complicated.  There are four areas that impact fair use: purpose of use, nature of copyrighted work, amount of the copyrighted work, and effect on the market.  Excerpts of a book for example can be used for educational purposes.  It comes down to protecting the creator of the copyrighted work and that they are able to receive their compensation while yet being able to provide material for educational and research purposes.

Copyright, public domain, and fair use can be very complicated.  There are many resources available online.  Penn State even has a checklist for facility, staff, and students to use to determine fair use.  The link is listed below.  The US Copyright Office offers the best source of information on copyright laws, public domain, and fair use.  



Resources:


https://www.gosh.org/about-us/peter-pan/copyright

https://www.missouristate.edu/PrintingAndPostal

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/index.html

https://copyright.psu.edu/copyright-basics/fair-use/#Fair_Use_Checklist


Comments

  1. Pete DrinanSeptember 29, 2023 at 8:14 AM

    Hi Robin! Your post provides a good overview of the compelx topic of copyright, public domain, and fair use. It is interesting to note that the copyright for "Peter Pan" varies from country to country, and that even within a country, the copyright for different versions of the work can vary. I did not not this! (It also helps that "Peter Pan" was one of my favorite movies growing up.) The resources that you provide are a great place to start for those who want to learn more. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. NMZumpanoOctober 1, 2023 at 9:07 AM

    So interesting to read how the rules are different in other countries.

    ReplyDelete

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