In a survey conducted by Microsoft, 49% of teens between 7th and 10th grade didn’t know the rules and guidelines for downloading media from the internet. However, a majority of teens familiar with the rules agreed that people who downloaded content illegally should be punished.

Counterfeiting and piracy cost the U.S. nearly $250 billion annually according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Before he left office, President Bush signed into law the PRO-IP Act. It stands for Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008. This law increases both civil and criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringement and establishes the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER). In September 2009, President Obama appointed Victoria A. Espinel the first “copyright czar”.

Anything original that you create that is expressed in writing, on video, in music, in a painting or photo or in computer code, in a game, etc. is copyrighted.  That means that the copyright law protects you too even if you aren’t a professional author or musician.  Your work is protected and someone using it without your permission is violating the law. Under The Copyright Act people are not allowed to copy, modify, share, perform or even show the copyrighted works without the copyright owner’s permission. When you download music or videos, or other media and share them with friends, you are making copies and that’s when it becomes a violation. It’s even worse if you are making money off of distributing this content.

What you should know about Copyright:

• As the author of an original work, the right to it is yours. Once you create the work, it is protected by copyright law. As the author, you are the source of this work and can produce other works like it. It also means you deserve the ability to make a living from your own work–selling paintings, songs, books. Having a copyright law is a form of societal respect for the person who created the work. When you violate someone else’s right to control their work, you are violating the law.

• Some companies allow you to have more than 1 copy of a downloaded song, movie, or other media. For example, they may allow you to keep the song on 3 different devices or 3 different computers.

• Some works are not protected by the law.  Ideas are not protected. Titles and names are not protected. Commonly available facts and information cannot be protected. Works by the U.S. government are usually not protected. Works “for hire” means that the employer owns the rights to the work.

• The Fair Use doctrine allows limited use of copyrighted works for the purposes of “criticism, news, reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research”.

• If you want to provide notice that something is copyrighted and by whom, you can use the copyright symbol, ©,  or the word “Copyright” followed by the year of publication, and your name. Copyright protection lasts from the time the work is created till 70 years after the death of the author/artist.

• Parents can be held liable for copyright violations of their children.

Resources

• Wiredteens.org
• Teenangels.org

Each week K12Genie presents free songs and music videos from iTunes. Use the convenient ShareThis button at the bottom of the page to share this page with your friends!

Click on the icons to start your downloads.

MUSIC

MUSIC VIDEOS

Check back each week for the latest free downloads.

Are you looking for more music?

• Shop at the iTunes Music Store.
• Shop for MP3 Downloads at Amazon
• Shop for CDs at Amazon
• Shop for Music at Masterbeat

Get your music for the school year.  These picks on iTunes include music by:

• The All-American Rejects
• Asher Roth
• Ashley Tisdale
• Beyonce
• Daughtry
• Hannah Montana
• Jonas, Brothers
• Paramore
• and many more

All for $7.99 per album.