Ms. Smith 
What is Copyright? 
October 30, 2020 

Hello Friends and Family of my Classroom,  

I am reaching out through this letter to touch base on the topic of copyright, something everyone 
should be aware of. The copyright law allows individuals to protect their creations including art, music 
and literature. The law is important because it allows for respect and appreciation to go toward 
original creations. Please note that a copyright does not give you ownership of an idea, it just protects 
your representation of them. 

Copyright infringement occurs when someone exploits any of the exclusive rights of copyright without 
the copyright owner’s permission. Copyright infringement is a crime and those committing copyright 
infringement can have a lawsuit brought against them. There are fair use rules created which allow 
the use of copyrighted materials without permission as long as they are being used for limited 
circumstances including educational purposes. Even though this rule is in place, I am still going to 
encourage public domains to be used when possible in my classroom. To assist students in avoiding 
copyright infringement, I am going to encourage the use of works in the public domain.  

The most important thing for students to determine whether or not they are committing copyright 
infringement is whether or not they are copying somebody else’s work. Another consideration to be 
made would be that the more of someone’s work you take, the less fair it is to the owner of the work. 
One other important note to make is that, giving the author credit does not mean you are not 
committing copyright infringement. 

I am going to include a few links below which will assist you in learning more about copyright and 
knowing where you can find alternatives to copyrighted materials (public domain sites). 

https://lac-group.com/blog/copyright-for-dummies/  

https://search.creativecommons.org 

https://www.pdclipart.org 

https://www.jamendo.com   

Hope you are all well, 

Ms. Smith 

smit3344@fredonia.edu 

280 Central Ave. 

Fredonia, NY, 14063 

 

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