2 JOURNAL OF COPYRIGHT IN EDUCATION AND LIBRARIANSHIP
Creators who refuse to use these excuses are left to wade through case law
and lengthy and complicated terms and conditions, a process of due
diligence that Waxer compared to the upper rings of hell. After presenting
the state of copyright confusion, Waxer concluded that creators ultimately
want to know whether they can use the music, photos, videos, or other
works they have found.
The purpose of copyright is to promote culture by offering the incentive of a limited monopoly and eventually dissolving the monopoly to make that intellectual property publicly and freely available. Waxer asserted that the relationship between technology and copyright law complicates the use and protection of works because technology allows users to make exact copies and technological developments are constantly creating new platforms and ways to access, create, and share works. These circumstances are weighted further because users outpace technological developments for protecting intellectual property and technological developments outpace copyright law. Moreover, the copyright laws that are in place do not accurately police the latest technological environments, capabilities, or user behaviors, so choosing to abide by copyright is left for the user to decide. To ease the user’s decision-making process, Waxer has developed flow charts and a list of resources for teaching practical skills and the rightful use of copyrighted material.
Flow Charts for Using Media
Being copyright conscious in today’s online environment can be challenging when public domain works are often hard to find, licensing filters are not always accurate, works are not properly tagged with license in-formation, stock photos cost money and lack diversity, and tracking down the creator to ask permission to use a work seems like a detective’s task. To ease the dilemma of whether one can use something found on the Internet, Waxer created a simple flow chart called “Can I Use It?” (see Figure 1) to guide users through the thought process of identifying whether the work is in the public domain or whether some or all rights are reserved. The flow chart further guides users through considering the terms, fair use, and per-mission for ultimately deciding whether they can use a specific work.
