The Game is in There: Creating Gamified Library Instruction: Basic Copyright

Concerned about copyright when making a game?

• Stanford University has a great website which covers basic copyright principles.  Scroll down for excellent information on Fair Use.
• Use this Fair Use Evaluator recommended by the American Library Association to start checking if what you're doing is covered by Fair Use.
• Or use the American Library Association's Fair Use Checklist to see if what you are doing is covered by Fair Use.

"You can use copyrighted songs and movie and television content in your in-person training games because of the Face-to-face or Classroom Exception to the Copyright Act. It's a statutory exception, so you don't have to license or get permission for the material so long as you meet the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 110 (1):

Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain performances and displays

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:

(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made."

The "unless" part means that you will lose the right to rely on the exception if you use pirated material. So make sure you copy from the original source or from resources you or the library owns.

This exception doesn't translate to online instruction, so make sure your online versions comply with the Fair Use Exception or that you have licenses or permission to use the material."

Stephanie Towery JD MLIS
Copyright Officer
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666-4684
http://guides.library.txstate.edu/copyright
http://www.library.txstate.edu/about/divisions/research-learning/copyright.html