Scenarios

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Scenario #1
You are a student and are assigned to create a multimedia project for an honors class which means you need to use various items protected by copyright. Specifically, you select text, graphics, video clips, paintings, photographs and computer screen shots for inclusion in your multimedia project, which you then digitally copy onto a DVD for presentation in the classroom. Can you do this legally?

What section of the copyright law allows (or does not allow) this to take place?

Scenario #2
Your home is filled with the latest computer and other technological capability, making it very easy and convenient to download items from the internet and copy existing videos, music, computer software, video games, photographs, text, etc. Some members of your household promote the “free access to information” philosophy—“if it’s accessible on the Internet, then it must be free for the taking. Because they put in on the Internet, that means they intended for us to make a copy for our own use.” What copyright knowledge can you share with them to bring them into reality as far as copyright compliance is concerned?

Your friends/family members notice you have recently purchased a movie (DVD), music CD, computer game, and a licensed music service on the Internet. They ask if it is OK to borrow them to make a copy for personal use. “It won’t hurt anyone and no one will care—besides, these companies make plenty of money, so the few dollars I would spend buying these products is no big deal.” Would any of this personal copying be legal?