4 ms·

Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. You can't run it off yourself on the mimeograph machine b

Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. You can't run it off yourself on the mimeograph machine but just go buy 30 copies and leave them in the classroom.

vidarh 13y ago
I was about to question whether or not you knew if this particular speech is actually available in its entirey anywhere that could be used as a source without potentially infringing copyright, but here it is available for download from the US National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf
- stonemetal 13y ago
  Wouldn't distributing that file be considered copyright infringement? Just because you can legally access it there doesn't mean you have the right to redistribute. Sure you could direct your students there, but you can't do the copying yourself if I am not mistaken. Seems like picking up 20-30 copies off amazon would be easier.
  - lotu 13y ago
    The intended use in important. If a teacher distributes the speech in order to teach a lesson about it, it is very different than if a business man sell a book of the speech. Furthermore, the negative publicity from suing a teacher, using Martin Luther King Jr's speech to teach about civil rights should make any teacher completely safe from lawsuits.
    - solistice 13y ago
      Possible publicity is a pretty weak protection compared to actual legality, and I can't imagine a regular teacher (I'm excluding highly idealistic teachers, but those are few and far strewn) would risk their job illegally distributing those texts/videos, if there is even a quanta of possibility that that happens. Teachers aren't the idealized constructs they often use to teach.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
dvmmh 13y ago
That's assuming you CAN buy the book/speech.
- travisp 13y ago
  You can buy it in written form, audio form, or DVD form and you can license it for placement in a book. Here is even an illustrated form for children with a CD: http://amzn.com/0375858873 http://amzn.com/0375858873
chimeracoder 13y ago
Of course they can. That's not the issue. The issue is that textbook publishers cannot (or will not) include the speech in their books, because then they would have to pay royalties (and indirectly pass along those costs to the schools). Furthermore, use of the video is much more heavily controlled by the King estate.
- 001sky 13y ago
  because then they would have to pay royalties The issue is the price not the payment per-se.
- danielweber 13y ago
  Schoolbooks are full of stuff that is copyrighted. The photos explicitly are. We still have Norton's Antologies, right? Many of those are 100% filled with copyrighted works they need to pay royalties on. And they do. And everything works out just fine.
gnaritas 13y ago
> mimeograph machine Showing your age? :)
- cgore 13y ago
  In 2003-ish, while I was getting my BS, the professor passed out some of those funny-smelling purple sheets. I hadn't seen them since probably second grade (mid-1980's). Apparently both the copiers were broken, but there was still an old mimeograph sitting in the corner, she tried it, and it still worked.
  - danielweber 13y ago
    Wow, I said mimeograph entirely as a joke, I didn't think anyone had used them this century.
  - unclebucknasty 13y ago
    So funny. I can instantly recall that smell to this day.
DannyBee 13y ago
They have also been successfully sued a number of times for course packets, so they tend to be very careful.
- danielweber 13y ago
  So buy it. The same way they would study Shel Silverstein poems.
masklinn 13y ago
> Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. That is a completely different issue, classrooms have a specific exception (USC title 17 chapter 1 § 110 (1)) which allows "performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction". The issue at hand here is that textbook publishers can't (or won't) include the speech or even major excerpts of it. And although a teacher can buy the speech DVD and play it, it's not a very good support to study the speech.

vidarh 13y ago

I was about to question whether or not you knew if this particular speech is actually available in its entirey anywhere that could be used as a source without potentially infringing copyright, but here it is available for download from the US National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

stonemetal 13y ago
Wouldn't distributing that file be considered copyright infringement? Just because you can legally access it there doesn't mean you have the right to redistribute. Sure you could direct your students there, but you can't do the copying yourself if I am not mistaken. Seems like picking up 20-30 copies off amazon would be easier.
- lotu 13y ago
  The intended use in important. If a teacher distributes the speech in order to teach a lesson about it, it is very different than if a business man sell a book of the speech. Furthermore, the negative publicity from suing a teacher, using Martin Luther King Jr's speech to teach about civil rights should make any teacher completely safe from lawsuits.
  - solistice 13y ago
    Possible publicity is a pretty weak protection compared to actual legality, and I can't imagine a regular teacher (I'm excluding highly idealistic teachers, but those are few and far strewn) would risk their job illegally distributing those texts/videos, if there is even a quanta of possibility that that happens. Teachers aren't the idealized constructs they often use to teach.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

dvmmh 13y ago

That's assuming you CAN buy the book/speech.

travisp 13y ago
You can buy it in written form, audio form, or DVD form and you can license it for placement in a book. Here is even an illustrated form for children with a CD: http://amzn.com/0375858873 http://amzn.com/0375858873

chimeracoder 13y ago

Of course they can. That's not the issue. The issue is that textbook publishers cannot (or will not) include the speech in their books, because then they would have to pay royalties (and indirectly pass along those costs to the schools). Furthermore, use of the video is much more heavily controlled by the King estate.

001sky 13y ago
because then they would have to pay royalties The issue is the price not the payment per-se.
danielweber 13y ago
Schoolbooks are full of stuff that is copyrighted. The photos explicitly are. We still have Norton's Antologies, right? Many of those are 100% filled with copyrighted works they need to pay royalties on. And they do. And everything works out just fine.

gnaritas 13y ago

> mimeograph machine Showing your age? :)

cgore 13y ago
In 2003-ish, while I was getting my BS, the professor passed out some of those funny-smelling purple sheets. I hadn't seen them since probably second grade (mid-1980's). Apparently both the copiers were broken, but there was still an old mimeograph sitting in the corner, she tried it, and it still worked.
- danielweber 13y ago
  Wow, I said mimeograph entirely as a joke, I didn't think anyone had used them this century.
- unclebucknasty 13y ago
  So funny. I can instantly recall that smell to this day.

DannyBee 13y ago

They have also been successfully sued a number of times for course packets, so they tend to be very careful.

danielweber 13y ago
So buy it. The same way they would study Shel Silverstein poems.

masklinn 13y ago

> Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. That is a completely different issue, classrooms have a specific exception (USC title 17 chapter 1 § 110 (1)) which allows "performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction". The issue at hand here is that textbook publishers can't (or won't) include the speech or even major excerpts of it. And although a teacher can buy the speech DVD and play it, it's not a very good support to study the speech.