John Brown Middle School

Memo
To: Principal Weston
From:Tina L. Brewer
CC: School Librarian – Mrs. Johnson
Date: 7/24/2009
Re: Copyright Infringement - Fair Use Policy

Good Afternoon Principal Weston:

I respectfully submit this memo to you on behalf of my students and myself. I have
given the situation a great deal of thought, consideration and conducted research on
the topic. I have come to the conclusion that what I have done was not copyright
infringement. My only intent was to find a way to engage the students in the lesson
with limited monetary resources and outdated textbooks. As a result of my
resourcefulness, the students took an initiative to read their text assignments,
participate in class discussions and the learning process was enriched for the
students.

According to Section 107 of the Copyright Act, “fair use” allows for utilizing medias
and/or materials for non-profit educational purposes. Educators may use selected
parts of copyrighted material for educational purposes, especially if they are
temporary and are not part of an anthology. Most importantly my showing of the
videos in class did not have a direct impact on the owner’s profitability. In fact, some
students mentioned being interested in renting the videos as a result of my showing
snippets in class.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court decision in Universal Studio v. Sony Corp of

America (1984) states that one may record programs on television and keep them to
watch at a later date as long as one’s intention is to not create a library with the
recorded materials. Same applies to my situation; I taped them to be able to watch
at a later date and never collected them as part of my personal library. The intent
here was purely innocent and to provide my students with educational opportunities
not provided in their textbooks.

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 As far as the Xeroxed copies of the photos they are well over 75 years old and may
have a copyright that has since expired, thus there should not be an issue with those.
In addition copyright laws do not extend to ideas developed, or discussions held after
medias or materials.

I do believe that it is my responsibility to practice honesty and trustworthiness, just as

I would expect my students to do so in the classroom and out of the classroom. I had
no intentions of displaying unethical behavior or breaking any copyright laws. What I
have done is in fact covered under the “fair use” umbrella and seems in no way to be
illegal. My only intention was to provide effective forms of medias that students could
relate to, appeal to and understand more so than an outdated textbook.

I feel that I did my job as an educator by enlightening my students to the best of my

abilities. “Fair use policies” although not as transparent as other polices has left lead
way for teachers/educators like me to be able to utilize cost effective resources to
engage our students. As a result my students were intrigued with the lesson and I
feel that is what my job as a teacher is to do. I hope that you can understand my
stance and appreciate what I am trying to do with these students.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ms. Tina L. Brewer

Universal Studios v. Sony Corp. of America, No. 464 U.S. 417 (U.S. Jan. 17,
1984),http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=464&page=417.

U.S. Copyright Office. (2006). Fair Use. In U.S. Copyright Office. Retrieved October 14, 2008,
from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

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