Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi all,

This is a legal question so I'm not quite sure where it should go on this forum but anyway, here goes.

I'd like to know, if anyone here has had experience with this kind of thing, whether course syllabuses are copyright or 'intellectual property'. It's an important issue if you intend to develop materials in support of existing course books and materials.

By syllabus, I don't mean any kind of media like photos, reading texts, sets of questions or anything like that. What I mean is the vocabulary lists, lexical sets, grammatical structures, idiomatic expressions, etc. Pretty much, what you see summarised on the contents page of a student's or teacher's book.

So do the publishers have property rights over their syllabuses?

Looking forward to your replies,

Matt

Matty wrote:... whether course syllabuses are copyright or 'intellectual property'. It's an important issue if you intend to develop materials in support of existing course books and materials... So do the publishers have property rights over their syllabuses?

Yes, any unique creation is copyrighted to the creator at the time of creation. There is no need to register or anything for a copyright of something you have created in and of yourself. The publishers purchase the rights from the writers.

If you are taking word lists from copyrighted materials, you will need to credit the source(s) and will need to obtain permission or request licensing if you'd like to do anything public with something created from them.

What do you intend to do with the supplement resources?

- Mark
www.toolsforeducators.com

It wouldn't hurt to print out your material and sned it to yourself in a sealed brown envelope and never open it. That way the date on the stamp will prove when you wrote it. Of course, it has to be your own creation and not copied from the publishers in any way. This is what my son's do when they write a song and it is recognized as copyright in Canada.

I was told that the organization I worked for has copyright of all the materials that I made in Mongolia, so you might want to check on that factor as well.

Sally Olsen wrote:This is what my son's do when they write a song and it is recognized as copyright in Canada.

Were you a greengrocer once, Sally? The APS will be having words with you, even if you weren't.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=1958

I sometimes make that kind of error (as well as many other simple errors), despite being aware of the prescriptive rules, and notice later on.

This, I think, is what my erstwhile Canadian colleagues would sometimes refer to as a "brain fart".

mesmark wrote:Yes, any unique creation is copyrighted to the creator at the time of creation. There is no need to register or anything for a copyright of something you have created in and of yourself. The publishers purchase the rights from the writers.

If you are taking word lists from copyrighted materials, you will need to credit the source(s) and will need to obtain permission or request licensing if you'd like to do anything public with something created from them.

What do you intend to do with the supplement resources?

Can you copyright a list of words? As far as I know you cannot copyright individual words, even if you've made them up, so the words Cocacola, Microsoft, etc. cannot be copyrighted, otherwise nobody would be able to write about anything in the corporate world without paying royalties, only their corporate logos and graphic materials can.

And at what point does a list of words become copyright? I'm pretty sure that 'chair, armchair, sofa, lamp, table' isn't copyright-able. How long does a list have to be? If this is the case, how many EFL books are there, for example at Elementary level, that have very, very similar vocabulary lists and cover all the same grammar points?

My question must be, therefore, at what point does a syllabus become unique and copyright-able if you exclude images, texts, questions, exercises and recordings?

Matty wrote:My question must be, therefore, at what point does a syllabus become unique and copyright-able if you exclude images, texts, questions, exercises and recordings?

If it's of your own creation it's copyrightable.

If you are copying in part or in whole from someone else's work, it's not your own creation.

Again, what is it that you are doing and what do you want to do with it? If you'll tell us that we can give you more concrete info.

I don’t think you can copyright wordlists.
OK, your list is:

apple
buy
eat
fish
delicious

but, I see your list and make my own:

Nouns: apple, fish
Verbs: buy, eat
Adjectives: delicious

Arranging the words in alphabetical order is an IDEA or a CONCEPT. But you can’t copyright ideas or concepts.
---------------------------
www.iLearner.eu - Teaching English with Technology

How about, for example, recycling vocabulary from a course book with additional, original materials?

Course book:

Unit 1 -
*food:apple, meat, breakfast cereal, etc.
*present simple with questions and negatives


Extra materials:

Unit 1 -
*food vocabulary (same items of food: apple, meat, breakfast cereal, etc.)
*listening exercises in present simple with questions and negatives
*dialogues about food with grammar exercises

None of the extra materials would directly quote or paraphrase the course book exercises.
They would assume that the student had already studied the material from the course book, so it's basically extension and re-enforcement of it.

May I assume that it is the same for Internet-based lessons/WebQuests/activities that we create? Are they OURS because we created them or are they public because they are accessible by the greater public?

abimosk wrote:May I assume that it is the same for Internet-based lessons/WebQuests/activities that we create? Are they OURS because we created them or are they public because they are accessible by the greater public?

They are OURS but if you make them public anyone can use them. You can print screenshots and send to you as it was recomended above. You can put some terms of use on your website as well.


http://www.iLearner.eu - Teaching English with Technology

I can't be any clearer than 'If you copy it, it's copyright infringement.' That's what you are asking, right? If you had happened to brainstorm vocabulary for a given topic, I'm sure you would end up with a similar list, but not the exact same one, and definitely not the same ones for units 1-12.

I'm sure the course book comes with a workbook. It sounds to me like you are looking to create a competing product (in some way) and you are planning to sell it or provide it to the public in some way. Or, you have already created it and want to provide it publically. If that is the case, then I'd say you could have some problems if you are discovered. You'll be infringing on their copyright and even if you don't charge for the product, they could prove monetary damages in a lack of sales generated from their own licensed products. At the very least, you'd see a cease and desist order.

Why spend all that time creating something based on another work? Why not just create something you own?

One more attempt... what are you planning to do with your supplementary materials?

abimosk wrote:May I assume that it is the same for Internet-based lessons/WebQuests/activities that we create? Are they OURS because we created them or are they public because they are accessible by the greater public?

Those resources belong to the site owner and/or creator. Making something available to the bublic doesn't make it public domain. Just as I can't go pick up a Harry Potter book at the store (available to the public) and go home, make a copy and provide it to others, you can't go to a website and do the same with that sites materials.

Normally any unique creation is copyrighted. However the other issue to consider is Intellectual Property. Most institutions have statements regarding this issue. Where I work for example the institution can claim ownership over all intellectual property created by either academic or professional staff during the course of their employment. Therefore my employee has copyright over anything I may prepare in the scope of my employment. Do other institutions outside Australia have
this type of policy?



As far as copyrighting a workbook which would be used as supplementary aterials for a course book, I would imagine you would have copyrighting issues. However in relation to copyright and the internet, it’s a little more complicated. Mainly because there is so much more chance of copy right infringement. Whether it be a course syllabus or web quest on the internet as long as it is your original creation it is protected by copyright. The best way to ensure your Internet material is copyrighted is by displaying a copyright notice on your site.