Copyright for Educators/Introduction

Copyright is a branch or subsection of intellectual property law which aims to protect the outputs of intellect through for example, trademarks, patents, designs, software licenses and copyright. This unit is restricted to providing an introduction to copyright law.

In his book ''Free Culture. How big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity'', Lawrence Lessig argues that the default "© copyright all rights reserved" (applicable in most countries) contradicts the original purpose of copyright: to promote progress in science and the useful arts - a public good. The purpose is not to enrich publishers or authors, or to grant them undue influence on development and distribution of culture.

Disclaimer: These course materials are designed to provide an introduction to copyright for educators. This unit forms part of a course on open content licensing and as such does not focus on the detail and complexities of copyright per se. However, copyright is prerequisite knowledge to understand and implement open content licensing. These course materials should not be construed as legal opinion. Copyright is a complex area of law and there are differences between the copyright legislation of individual countries around the world which cannot be addressed in a generic introductory unit. Please consult a qualified legal professional for advice on copyright at your institution.