Copy Right Laws

In class today we read about the laws behind copy right and what they really mean. We were given several case study's to answer and discuss as a group.
The first case study was about an elementary school doing a ballet recital and playing Aaron Copland's third symphony in the background. We were asked if this was covered under the fair use act. My group decided that it was since although the teacher was asking for money to come to the recital. The focus was on the students and their dance not on the music being played. They also weren't saying the music was their's, the credit was given to the composer and musicians. So since they were playing music that had probably been purchased and weren't charging for the intent of listening to the music, it is covered by the fair use act. I do know that some groups didn't believe that this was fair use law though.
Our second case study was about a teacher showing a recording from the National Geographic channel. He recorded it himself and then showed it to his students to discuss wolves. I don't think this is fair use since he used his own recording of the show which you aren't suppose to show but I am not a hundred percent sure on this. It would definitely be better to get a hold of National Geographic and the purchase the movie from them for education purposes. This would definitely make it fall under the fair use act. I know my group was split on this the same as I was so it is still up in the air for me.
Thirdly we had a case study on Disney Graphics. A student used it to describe science fiction. I know that Disney is very picky about the people who use there images. So this is probably not under the fair use act because of the way Disney keeps track of their graphics. The best thing to do would to get a hold of Disney and get permission to use their graphic before using it.
The fourth case study was about a talent show. They charged admission that then went to the arts council in the community. I think this falls under the fair use act since the students don't claim the song as their own and they weren't making money off of playing it. The only thing being judged was the talent they had in playing the song. The students probably made a few changes to the song to also make it their own in small ways. This does change the song to be different.
Finally the last case study was about a novel a girl wanted to write about a poetry club that her and her friends were going to have. In the novel she was going to put in the entire poems and the reactions and comments from her friends. The only way this would be fair use is if she has permission to use the poems and gives full credit to the author of the poems. Her friends will also need to give their permission for her to use their comments about the poem. This one is a little tricky with all the things that she wants to include in her book, but I have seen these things in books just credit is given to the correct people.
Copy Right laws have developed throughout the years and have evolved along with technology. Today Copy Right Laws are more specific then ever before and cover anything that is created. It is a nice thing to know and it is nice to know that for the most part the worst thing you will get if you do accidentally violate is get a warning that if you don't comply with you will have to pay the company some money since you'll be sued.