Mr.Ben Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Hi fellow Edugeekers- Do any of you have any comments on the statement below (I intend to email it out to staff when finished) - the background to the problem is included. Thanks in advance - Ben At the beginning of the year we removed the restrictions in place to prevent the saving and storage of music files such as mp3, wma and ogg files. This restriction was originally down to a lack of network storage and capacity – you now have much larger storage quotas (15Gb) and the synchronisation of files to staff laptops only deals with files that have changed. Recently some copyrighted works have appeared in the shared areas which have now been removed – Here are the reasons why: What UK Copyright Law Protects UK copyright law (primarily, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) provides protection for recorded music (along with other types of creative works) by giving the copyright owner certain exclusive rights of use. Anyone who uses recorded music for those protected uses will be infringing copyright unless they are licensed (i.e. authorised) to do so by the copyright owner. For recorded music (referred to under copyright law as “sound recordings”), the original copyright owner is the person who undertakes the arrangements necessary for the recording to be made –usually this is the record company responsible for organising and paying for the recording. The copyright owner’s exclusive rights to use recorded music in the UK include, amongst others: • the right to play them in public; • the right to communicate them to the public (including broadcasting them); • the right to copy them. Licensing Exemptions and Exclusions There is an exemption in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 that gives educational establishments the rights to play and perform copyrighted music when used as part of the curriculum. The audience must only consist of learners, staff and others involved in the educational process. Non curricular uses of recording or public performance of these works is not covered (non-curricular meaning anything that is not essential to the educational process, such as playing music in the background during an assembly or in the classroom.) The school will purchase both PRS and PPL licensing to cover the non-curricular use of copyrighted music being publically performed within the school. These give us the right to play/perform the recording in public and the right to communicate them to the public, allowing us to upload performances and media which include music purchased from legitimate sources to the Internet. All music used within the school must be legitimately purchased as a CD or through a download service such as iTunes. The school does not have to purchase this music and we trust that staff acquire the music from a suitable source. Neither of the licences or the curriculum exception cover the use of music in commercial or other activities that could not reasonably be considered within the normal activities of a school. (Playback or Performance in the Café is excluded under this) 2 Distribution of Files The school does not have a right to distribute these music files, and storing these on any shared area or website where members of the school could download them could constitute a criminal offence under the CDPA. In conclusion, any individual can (with music purchased from a legitimate source) play/perform and broadcast music as part of a derived work, but cannot share the music files between each other, as this would constitute the distribution of ‘unauthorised copies’. Staff should not encourage the sharing and distribution of copyrighted files by putting them into shared areas. Our Staff AUP also covers this: • Where work is protected by copyright, I will not download or distribute copies (including music and videos). The punishment for copyright offences is a fine of £5,000 or 6 months imprisonment, rising to an unlimited fine and imprisonment. This may lead to the conviction of the member of Staff. Staff should encourage students to create their own compositions using the many tools available to them or use works that are out of copyright (70 years from the date of the recorded performance).
Andrew_C Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Possibly accurate, but far too long. They won't read it!
featured_spectre Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Add in, if a staff member states that they got it legitimately, ask for the CD or a copy of the email receipt from iTunes. Many staff tried to get round that in my last place by dumping MP3s onto iTunes and saying its on iTunes so its legit etc....receipts or original CDs...best way forward
localzuk Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 May be worth adding downloadable files from YouTube as this came up recently in Brum where a school had downloaded copyrighted content to its shared server and got fined. Our Aup is similar but also covers the portable staff devices and the use of file sharing sites like torrent on school owned equipment. and a clear statement that any files in breach of the AUP will be removed immediatly by the it staff Can I have a link for the youtube thing? Reason being, the education exclusion in the Designs, Copyrights and Patents Act should cover them doing that if it was for educational purposes?
Mr.Ben Posted March 17, 2012 Author Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) @ridpool_John : Ditto to the link for the Youtube thing! I'm not expecting everyone to read it, but it's important to clarify the facts with Staff - This will be a referenced appendix in our whole school ICT Policy. I don't want to stop music being played in class - I just want to have a definitive set of rules that must be followed - It will be expanded to other works of copyright as we purchase the appropriate licensing. Edited March 17, 2012 by Mr.Ben
plexer Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Can I have a link for the youtube thing? Reason being, the education exclusion in the Designs, Copyrights and Patents Act should cover them doing that if it was for educational purposes? Last time I looked d/l was against youtubes t&c's though? Ben
localzuk Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Last time I looked d/l was against youtubes t&c's though? Ben Kinda irrelevant, as the law trumps T&Cs...
FN-GM Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Add in, if a staff member states that they got it legitimately, ask for the CD or a copy of the email receipt from iTunes. Many staff tried to get round that in my last place by dumping MP3s onto iTunes and saying its on iTunes so its legit etc....receipts or original CDs...best way forward Its actually illegal to rip a CD in the UK.
localzuk Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Its actually illegal to rip a CD in the UK. From the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Copyright in a sound recording, film or broadcast is not infringed by its being copied by making a film or film sound-track in the course of instruction, or of preparation for instruction, in the making of films or film sound-tracks, provided the copying (a) is done by a person giving or receiving instruction, and (b) is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, and provided that the instruction is for a non-commercial purpose. Also, as amended by The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 SI No acknowledgement is required in connection with copying as mentioned in subsection (1), (2) or (2A), or in connection with anything done for the purposes mentioned in subsection (3), where this would be impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise. That is pretty clear that education is allowed to do it. 1
Mr.Ben Posted March 17, 2012 Author Posted March 17, 2012 From the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Also, as amended by The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 SI That is pretty clear that education is allowed to do it. So I'm right that Staff and Students can copy their legitimate music onto the network, but can't share it between themselves. So if I allowed Music to be copied onto the home drives and used file screens to stop music on the shared areas that would stick to the letter of the law?
plexer Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Kinda irrelevant, as the law trumps T&Cs... Not really as it shouldn't have been done in the first place so first of all they broke the t&c's by doing it and subsequently the law. Ben
localzuk Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Not really as it shouldn't have been done in the first place so first of all they broke the t&c's by doing it and subsequently the law. Ben I don't get it. The law I just quoted specifically stated that for education purposes, video is allowed to be used. There's no relation to terms and conditions. If I create a video, and put it online, with a clause saying 'no use in education', the law above specifically overrides that saying it is allowed to be used. No law would be broken by a school then viewing it, or copying it for use in their lessons.
plexer Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Youtubes terms and conditions prohibit the d/l of content so copyright law having an exemption for instruction doesn't override that. Ben
localzuk Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Youtubes terms and conditions prohibit the d/l of content so copyright law having an exemption for instruction doesn't override that. Ben Yes it does, as terms and conditions are 'terms of copyright' in a sense - they dictate who and when the content on the site can be used. The law I quoted is specifically saying that copyright does not apply basically, except for the terms dictated by the law itself. You seem to be saying that a company can determine rules over that of those determined by law. Its the other way round.
mariohi Posted June 19, 2012 Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) @ridpool_John Can you share this link on the birmingham bursars group regarding Brum school fined ? Edited June 19, 2012 by mariohi
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