Title: Copyright Article Review -
Author: Terry Beachy
Last saved by: terry.beachy

Copyright Article Review

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW – COPYRIGHT LAWS
Copyright Article Review - Copyright laws and fair use in the digital era: Implications for distance education programs in community colleges
Terry Beachy

DETC 611
Professor Ilene Frank
June 5, 2009

With distance education on the rise and the emergence of digital media, policies related to education and copyright need to be identified. The article, “Copyright laws and fair use in the digital era: Implications for distance education programs in community colleges” written by Tommy Lawton, Demetria Ennis-Cole and David Lawhon (2006) offers this information to the academic community. It identifies and briefly analyzes the following policy issues related to education and copyrighted material: ramifications for violating copyright, the Fair Use Act, the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH) and the use of the Internet database service, Turnitin. As students, instructors, and institutions collectively make up the academic enterprise, each need to do their part to avoid copyright infringement while enhancing their knowledge base. 
The article emphasizes that as distance education has become a mainstay, legalities to students, instructors and institutions need to be properly addressed. Otherwise, violators may risk not only their position, but may also face legal fees and/or incarceration. Furthermore, the owner of the copyright claiming infringement may seek awards for damages, loss of profits and attorney fees (Lawton, Ennis-Cole, Lawton, 2006). To circumvent prosecution, the authors, Lawton, Ennis-Cole, and Lawton (2006) encourages all involved to familiarize themselves with the Fair Use Act and TEACH Act .
The Fair Use Act can be compared to a fulcrum that balances the rights of the copyright holder and the needs for the general public. An example would be limiting 10% of the copyrighted material to be placed online (Lawton, et al., 2006). This act is not without controversy. Specifically the ability to transmit audio and images online does not follow the same guidelines as in the classroom, thus creating unclear legal responsibilities (Lawton, et al., 2006). Thus the act has the propensity to be an ambiguous term. On one hand, it can mean copyrighted items can be used without permission or the exchange of money. On the other hand, it could be narrowly defined with payment being customary and anticipated and any deprivation from it could result in complex lawsuits. 
Of equal importance is the TEACH act which expands upon the Fair Use Act to include all types of protected materials. The act also emphasizes the importance of making students abreast that their learning materials may be subject to copyright protection (Lawton, et al., 2006). This act also deals with quantity limitations; this may be hard to enforce as instructors may have limited control over their students.
To assist instructors and institutions in enforcing copyright laws, suggested is the use of the Internet-based, plagiarism-detection service, Turnitin. For a fee, this service ensures originality by comparing submitted papers to several databases (Lawton, et al., 2006). This appears to be an ideal solution to curbing plagiarism as it allows for a variety of papers to be submitted such as manuscripts, theses, dissertations, etc.; however, the cost to use this service may be beyond the educations already shrinking budgets. The authors quote a one year subscription at approximately $16,000 (Lawton, et al., 2006).
The 2006 article is written by two gentlemen from the College of Education, University of North Texas and an information technology consultant also from Texas, so one would assert a high degree of legitimacy; yet it may reflect some bias since they all reside in a certain geographical location. The content is well organized on a collegiate level, sites an address for further correspondence and uses headings to guide the reader smoothly through the article. The article is an interesting read as it truly invokes the need to be copyright savvy. 
To conclude, distance education has become commonplace for colleges. Consequently, the article stresses that the magnitude of copyright must not be diminished. As courses are developed, copyright laws such as the Fair Use Act and the TEACH Act need to be adhered to in avoidance of prosecution. One means to identify plagiarism is to use the Internet database service, Turnitin. 

References
Lawhon, T., Ennis-Cole, D., & Lawhon, D.C (2006). Copyright laws and fair use in the digital era: Implications for distance education programs in community colleges. Community College Journal of Research & Practice. 30, 479-483. Retrieved May 22, 2009, from EBSCOhost database.  Doi:10.1080/10668920500207932