Week #: 10

Recorder: Kiyoung Sohn

Lagonika
Elaborator: Mike McCann
Explorer B: Francisco Rivas

Team 3 - Its Greek to Me

Coordinator: Ioanna
Explorer A: Anthony Miller

Ethical Scenario 3, Struggling School, puts the reader in the position of

a newly hired technology specialist for a poor school, who finds out
that the school is infringing copyright laws through its inadequate use
of software licensing in its student computer lab. This issue is relevant
to two sections of the Association for Educational Communications and
Technology's (AECT) Code of Professional Ethics (2007) concerning
instructional designers commitment to themselves, and their
profession. The first section states that instructional technologists
"[s]hall promote current and sound professional practices in the use of
technology in education" (No. 7). The third section of the code states
that instructional technologists should "inform users of the stipulations
and interpretations of the copyright law and other laws affecting the
profession and encourage compliance" (No. 8). In Standards and
Ethics for Practitioners, Westgaard (1992) explains, Unethical conduct
is not necessarily bad, nor is ethical behavior always good. It is
possible to be ethically correct and criminally responsible for harm to
another (p.580). Consequently, a number of options that adhere to
AECTs Code of Professional Ethics are possible, as well as options that
do not comply with such ethical codes, but might seem convenient or
suitable taking into account the schools circumstances. First of all, it
is important to consider that copyright infringement is a crime that can
lead to fines up to $150,000 (U.S. Copyright Office, 2009). One
solution could be to purchase the software licenses through school
fundraisers and donations; otherwise, contacting and informing the
software provider of the schools situation could lead to a discounted
price on the software. The specialist could ignore the situation, or urge
school officials to comply with copyright laws. If school officials do not
comply with copyright laws, the specialist could whistleblow to let law
enforcement agencies know of the schools copyright infringement
crime. Although these are feasible options, the solution that reflects
the most ethical perspective is to educate the school about the
implications of not complying with copyright laws and suggest for the

school to use free and accessible open-source software.

Scenario 5: Realistic Recycling

Blue Circle clearly owns the rights to presentation of the course
developed for them, but who owns the intellectual property rights is
not so clear. With a total contract price of only $16,000, Blue Circle
may not have purchased the intellectual property rights as well as the
actual presentation. According to the Berne Convention (Article 14bis)
there are two forms of copyright, assignment and licensing. The
contract language could transfer all rights to the company, or only part
of them. A careful review of the Blue Circle contract and
communications with their legal department may be necessary to
clarify the details: Was it just the rights to the presentation or did they
also acquire the intellectual property used to develop that
presentation. If Blue Circle owns all the rights, in the plain meaning of
the words, it would be a violation of the contract with Blue Circle, and
of copyright law, to reuse 50% of the materials that were used in their
presentation without a financial arrangement acceptable to all the
parties. Section three of the AECT Code of Professional Ethics applies.
It clearly says that practitioners must do business properly, honor
copyright and all other relevant laws. These provisions are clear about
the ethical and potential legal ramifications of using one clients
property, without permission, for another client. We have several
options. If we are able to write a course with all new material for
Superior, and the work can be done without the fact or the appearance
of having used the Blue Circle material in the process, we can move
forward. Depending upon discussion with Blue Circle lawyers, we must
reject reusing material that now legally belongs to Blue Circle without
concluding a proper business arrangement. If Blue Circle gives
permission and an appropriate price is negotiated we can then
negotiate a new contract with Superior, including provisions for use of
the Blue Circle material. If a business arrangement with Blue Circle
cannot be arranged, then the only ethical course of action is to turn
down Superior's work.

References:
Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (2007,
November). Code of Professional Ethics. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from
http://www.aect.org/About/Ethics.asp
U.S. Copyright Office. (2009). Copyright law of the United States of
America and related laws contained in title 17 of the United States
code. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html
Westgaard, O. (1992) Standards and ethics for practitioners, Ch. 34 in
Stolovitch & Keeps (Eds),
Handbook of Human Performance Technology. San Francisco: JosseyBass.
WIPO, (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2009, from
http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/909/wipo_pub_909.
html#limitations