Workshop 11: “Copy of a Copy of a Copy: Understanding Copyright, Fair Use, and Transformation” sheds light on the ambiguous and nebulous world of Copyright issues that haunt many, if not most, Master’s candidates. This workshop will provide a brief history of Copyright law and instruct students how they can go about securing permission—and help them to use work that is not in the public domain in their thesis. The workshop will also help students determine when they do and do not need permission for material used in their thesis. Also, I will go into detail about the doctrine of Fair Use, chiefly, what I call the big four questions: What is the purpose of using the document?; What is the nature of the Copyrighted work?; What is the relative amount of the portion used?’; What is the market effect of the use on the Copyrighted work? The workshop also highlights the little known Transformative factor that helps students get around strict Copyright law: Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and new understandings?; Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?
Finally, I will give several examples from my experience working with students who have experienced several Copyrighting issues.