Copyright

Copyright law provides educators with a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display (show) and perform (show or play) others' works in the classroom. These rights are in Section 110 of the Copyright Act and apply to any work, regardless of the medium.

• Institutional Requirements:
  • Your institution must be an accredited nonprofit educational institution or government agency,
  • Your institution must have policies regarding copyright,
  • Your institution must provide accurate information to faculty, staff, and students about copyright.
• Teaching Requirements:
  • Works must be performed or displayed at the direction or under the supervision of the instructor.
  • Works must be performed or displayed as an integral part of regular class time instruction
  • Works performed or displayed must be directly related and of material assistance to educational objectives of the class.
• Technological requirements:
  • Works must be strictly limited to officially enrolled students,
  • Technical controls preventing downloading, copying, access to materials beyond the class session, and unauthorized further dissemination
  • Must not interfere with technological protection measures already in place.
• Materials that are excluded from TEACH Act coverage:
  • Materials specifically marketed for e-learning or digital distance education,
  • Copies you know or should know are illegal,
  • Textbooks, coursepacks, electronic reserves, and similar materials typically purchased individually by students for independent review outside the classroom.
• If you are using an analog original, be sure that:
  • You have only copied the amount that you are authorized to transmit (e.g. don’t copy an entire movie if you’re only using clips),
  • There is no digital copy of the work available except with technological protections that prevent you from using it for the class in the way the statute authorizes.

T.E.A.C.H Act Checklist

•  My institution is a nonprofit accredited educational institution or a governmental agency.
•  It has a policy on the use of copyrighted materials.
•  It provides accurate information to faculty, students and staff about copyright.
•  Its systems will not interfere with technological controls within the materials I want to use.
•  The materials I want to use are specifically for students in my class.
•  Only those students will have access to the materials.
•  The materials will be provided at my direction during the relevant lesson.
•  The materials are directly related and of material assistance to my teaching content.
•   My class is part of the regular offerings of my institution.
•  I will include a notice that the materials are protected by copyright.
•  I will use technology that reasonably limits the students' ability to retain or further distribute the materials.
•  I will make the materials available to the students only for a period of time that is relevant to the context of a class session.
•  I will store the materials on a secure server and transmit them only as permitted by this law.
•  I will not make any copies other than the one I need to make the transmission.
•  The materials are of the proper type amount the law authorizes:
  • Entire performances of nondramatic literary and musical works
  • Reasonable and limited parts of a dramatic literary, musical, or audiovisual works
  • Displays of other works, such as images, in amounts similar to typical displays in face-to-face teaching
•  The materials are not among those the law specifically excludes from its coverage:
  • Materials specifically marketed for classroom use for digital distance education
• Copies I know or should know are illegal
  • Textbooks, coursepacks, electronic reserves and similar materials typically purchased individually by the students for independent review outside the classroom or class session
•  If I am using an analog original, I checked before digitizing it to be sure:
  • I copied only the amount that I am authorized to transmit
  • There is no digital copy of the work available except with technological protections that prevent my using it for the class in the way the statute authorizes.

The following actions are allowed in distance education settings under the TEACH Act: 

• Display of any work in an amount analogous to what is provided in a physical classroom setting

• Performance of nondramatic literary works

• Performance of nondramatic musical works

• Performance of "reasonable and limited" portions of other types of work (other than nondramatic literary or musical work), EXCEPT digital educational works

• Distance-education students may receive transmissions at any location

• Retention of content and distant student access for the length of a “class session”

• Copying and storage for a limited time or necessary for digital transmission to students

• Digitization of portions of analog works if no digital version is available or if digital version is not in an accessible form

The following are NOT allowed in distance education:

• Works that are marketed as part of online instructional activities (commercially available digital educational materials)

• Unlawful copies of copyrighted works under the U.S. copyright law, if the institution “knew or had reason to believe” that they were not lawfully made and acquired