My Comment to Ms. Williams Wonderful Wonders

MAC Week 1: Reading Entry for Copyright Issues

Wow!! What a great piece of work. Is it copyrighted?

Copyright laws can be a bit confusing. I had no idea how important it would be for me to learn about copyright laws. Like most people, I knew that books, songs, and articles were things that could be copyrighted. I was quite surprised after watching the videos and researching copyright laws. Copyright laws started after the printing press was invented in 1662 because King Charles II was worried about the copying of books.  The copyright laws were enacted to protect the writings in books. Now copyright laws protect any and all permanently fixed work that can be seen or heard. If you are writing a song or improving anything, it is important to get visual proof by way of video. My daughter writes music and this was one of the first things her voice teacher taught her. The video can be transcribed into a permanent work. The most important thing to remember about copyright is anything that is a permanent work is copyrighted even if it does not have a copyright notice attached.  Copyrighting your important, permanent work is important to preserve you hard work.

Jonnie,

First off, I really love the pictures that you put with all of your posts-really inspired me to seek out visuals to put with mine as well, really gives your blog an extra something!! I like how you put the fact in your copyright post about King Charles. I bet this is something that a lot of people don't know, and I know a lot of my students probably don't know either. They love learning little facts like this, and you mentioning it made me think to share this with them this week. It is perfect timing as the whole 8th grade has been working on a writing unit due to the fact that they just took the state writing exam. Until I watched this week's videos I did not realize either how many things are actually copyrighted and as you mentioned, just because it doesn't have have a copyright notice attached doesn't mean that the work has not been copyrighted. This was also news to me! So many things to learn, so little time!!