Case+15+-+Ms.+H's+Literature+Books

//__ Ms. H’s English Literature Book __// Ms. H teaches middle school, 7th grade, Language Arts. Usually, when she has her class read stories out of the literature book, she is forced to have her students read the story during class time because she teaches four classes and only has one set of text books. As a result, this takes a lot of time away from class time that the teacher can use as instructional time to discuss the story and have students answer questions. Further, not every student can always finish the story during class and since Ms. H can’t let the books go home, this usually becomes an issue. In order to resolve the problem, Ms. H photo copies the stories from the literature book so that her students are able to take the story home, read it at their own pace, and answer questions independently without distractions. Ms. H doesn’t feel like she is violating any copyright laws by copying the stories and believes she is doing her students a favor by allowing them to work with the story at home as well as at school.

//__ Commentary __// After reviewing the Fair Use exemption of the copyright law, Ms. H’s practice of photo copying stories out of the literature text book bought for the school falls under a few of the exemptions. Firstly, the purpose and character of the use is for non-profit educational purposes. Secondly, the nature of the copy-written work is for students to be able to use it and learn from it. Thirdly, she isn’t photo copying the entire book to distribute to her students, she is only copying stories that she knows can’t be completed in class or stories that she wants her students to work with at home; the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole is slim. Lastly, the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work would only be slightly affected. The school did invest money in purchasing the books and each teacher teaching the subject has their own set. After reviewing the exemptions, I have come to the conclusion that Ms. H’s practices' does fall under the Fair Use exemption.